Days after Trump returned to the presidency in January 2025, he fired a raft of inspectors general across government, which Democrats said was an effort to “purge” his administration of independent watchdogs to conceal wrongdoing.
Last year Gabbard also fired the acting counsel in the intelligence community’s inspector general’s office, and appointed a senior adviser within the office who reported directly to Gabbard. Democrats said the moves violated the law.
In October, the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed a new intelligence-community inspector general, Christopher Fox, on a 51-47 vote. No Democrats voted for Fox, who served as an aide to Gabbard in her role as spy chief before taking the oversight job.