President Trump late Friday fired the leader of an office designed to protect government whistleblowers, a detail revealed in a Monday lawsuit from the head of the Office of the Special Counsel (OSC).
Hampton Dellinger, a Biden appointee, said he was fired from his post “in a one-sentence email,” a move that violates his appointment to a five-year term in the office.
The OSC both provides another avenue for whistleblowers to report concerns of government wrongdoing and works to protect them from reprisal. It also responds to potential violations of the Hatch Act, the law that guards against electioneering by federal employees.
Dellinger’s attorneys argue his firing violates laws stating that he may only be removed for cause, while undercutting the very agency designed to review a growing list of other recent firings.
“The recent spate of terminations of protected civil service employees under the new presidential administration has created controversies, both about the lawfulness of these actions and about potential retaliation against whistleblowers. The OSC is statutorily tasked with receiving such reports, investigating them, and taking appropriate action,” the suit says.
“The President’s unlawful attempt to remove Special Counsel Dellinger from his office directly violates the modest but vital protections that Congress put in place and renders the OSC and the Special Counsel unable to fulfill their statutory mandate.”
Developing.
