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Attorney General Merrick Garland is the unnamed official whose sworn testimony before Congress is being challenged in a bombshell letter from an IRS whistleblower’s attorney that also alleges a coverup in the Hunter Biden criminal investigation, The Post has learned. Attorney Mark Lytle wrote Wednesday that the longtime IRS employee wants to provide information to congressional leaders to “contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee” — Garland —and also to detail “preferential treatment” in the criminal probe of the first son. The whistleblower already has made disclosures to the inspectors general of the Treasury and Justice departments....

(p. 26) The decision by the Corporation and the U.S. Attorney to cut out OIG and agree to this Settlement Agreement was injurious to the Federal government as a whole and specifically to the Corporation and the hard-working and dedicated staff of the Office of Inspector General. First, the settlement sends the signal that acceptance of a grantee or its principal as “responsible” can be purchased in a monetary settlement, overriding all evidence of wrongdoing previously found to warrant a suspension, without the presentation of any contradicting evidence. Settlement Agreements are supposed to settle the liability of the grantee and...

On Friday, Trump fired the inspector general of the State Department, Steve Linick. In accordance with the 2008 Inspector General Reform Act, which protects inspectors general from being fired without cause, Trump informed Congress in writing about the intent to fire Linick, expressing that he no longer had the “fullest confidence” in Linick, who was appointed to that position in 2013 by Barack Obama. Democrats naturally have come out of the woodwork to express their faux outrage, and to launch an investigation into the firing over allegations that Trump acted to protect Pompeo. But where were these Democrats in 2009...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has defended the firing earlier this month of State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, telling "The Ingraham Angle" in an exclusive interview Thursday that "I regret that I didn't recommend to the president earlier that he be terminated. "He was acting in a way that was deeply inconsistent with what the State Department was trying to do," Pompeo told host Laura Ingraham. "His office was leaking information, we tried to get him to be part of a team that was going to help protect his own officers from COVID-19. He refused to be an active...

On Friday, it was reported that State Department Inspector General Steve Linick had been fired. Immediately, the left pounced calling it “an unlawful act of retaliation.” The story was that Linick was conducting an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for asking subordinates to run personal errands for him and his wife. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) said, “I have learned that the Office of the Inspector General had opened an investigation into Secretary Pompeo. Mr. Linick’s firing amid such a probe strongly suggests that this is an unlawful act of retaliation.” House Democrats may want to hold their fire...

A top Republican senator demanded a deeper explanation from President Trump about his removal of the State Department watchdog while criticizing the ousted inspector general over a flawed investigation into British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s dossier.

Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) announced the probe on Saturday, saying that they had requested the White House, State Department, and the State Department Office of Inspector General to preserve all records related to the firing and to hand over those documents to the two committees by May 22. Linick is the latest independent watchdog to be replaced this year. In April, Trump announced the dismissal of Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the Intelligence Community who handled the anonymous whistleblower complaint that triggered the House Democratic-led impeachment inquiry against Trump. Glenn Fine, the acting...

President Donald Trump has removed the inspector general who was tapped to chair a special oversight board of the $2.2 trillion economic package intended to help businesses and individuals affected by the coronavirus, officials said Tuesday. Glenn Fine, the acting Defense Department inspector general and a veteran watchdog, had been selected by peers last month for the position. Now it’s unclear who will oversee the rescue law. The move threatens to upend the rigorous oversight that Democrats in Congress had demanded of the huge sums of money being pumped into the American economy because of the virus. “The president now...

As part of President Trump’s efforts to clear out bureaucrats who have tried to undermine his policy agenda, the president is now looking at Obama-era inspectors general (IGs)

A government watchdog who played a central role in the Hillary Clinton email investigation during the Obama administration told Fox News that he, his family and his staffers faced an intense backlash at the time from Clinton allies – and that the campaign even put out word that it planned to fire him if the Democratic presidential nominee won the 2016 election.

A Chinese-owned company penetrated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private server, according to sources briefed on the matter. The company inserted code that forwarded copies of Clinton’s emails to the Chinese company in real time. The Intelligence Community Inspector General warned of the problem, but the FBI subsequently failed to act, Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert said during a July hearing. A Chinese-owned company operating in the Washington, D.C., area hacked Hillary Clinton’s private server throughout her term as secretary of state and obtained nearly all her emails, two sources briefed on the matter told The Daily Caller News...

Senate Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid  refuses to say why for months he has blocked a bipartisan bill designed to ensure inspectors general access all of the official documents they need to fight waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. Three months ago, the Nevada senator blocked an attempt to pass Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley’s IG Empowerment Act with unanimous consent, which would make it crystal clear that the 1978 Inspector General Act gives presidentially appointed IGs authority to access all agency records for investigations and audits. Reid still refuses to change his position or explain his objections....

Robert Storch was confirmed by the Senate after more than a year and nominations from two presidents. After a turbulent year that saw the former National Security Agency Inspector General ousted for allegedly retaliating against whistleblowers, the Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the oversight agency: Robert Storch. Storch joins the NSA OIG as the first presidentially-appointed watchdog in the agency’s history. Prior inspectors general have been appointed by the director of the NSA, producing a potential conflict of interest for what is intended to be an independent office. Storch was originally nominated to the post by...

The German government is under fire for funding an allegedly Iranian-linked Islamic non-governmental organization (NGO) as part of a program designed to draw German-based Muslim communities away from extremism. According to the Interior Ministry, the program aims to signal to local Muslims that they play an essential role in the prevention of extremism. But critics claim the Islamic Community of Shi’ite Communities in Germany (IGS), an umbrella organization, has links to pro-Iran and anti-Semitic extremism. The Bild newspaper reported early this week that a first payment of €19,739 ($23,500) has already been processed for transfer to the IGS. The head...

Democrats are attacking Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s credibility after the Department of Justice released text messages showing a top FBI agent on both the Clinton email investigation and the Russia probe rooting for Clinton while he was investigating her and discussing an unknown “insurance policy” against Trump in case he won the election. The pro-Clinton, anti-Trump messages were, ironically, discovered as part of an investigation into the DOJ and FBI launched by the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General (IG) in response to Democratic politicians demanding a probe into possible anti-Clinton bias at the FBI. Democratic politicians and...

Gerald Walpin, the inspector general who was at the center of controversy in 2009 when he was fired by the White House amid an investigation of an Obama friend, died today. He was 84. Walpin's son-in-law, Allan Tananbaum, said Walpin was struck by a car while crossing a street in Manhattan. Walpin was fired in June 2009 for his investigation of the misuse of money in AmeriCorps, the service organization that was part of the Corporation for National and Community Service, where Walpin served as inspector general. The investigation focused on Kevin Johnson, the former NBA star who became mayor...

July 23, 2015 The Obama administration formally announced that inspectors general will have to get permission from their agency heads to gain access to grand jury, wiretap and fair credit information — an action that severely limits the watchdogs’ oversight capabilities, independence and power to uncover fraud. An opinion, issued by the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, says the Inspector General Act of 1978 — which was written by Congress to create the government watchdogs in order to help maintain integrity within their agencies — does not have the authority to override nondisclosure provisions in other laws, most...

Agency watchdogs are up in arms over a Justice Department memo questioning the legality of turning documents they say are crucial to their investigations. The new policy protecting certain portions of sensitive documents — announced last month by the DOJ’s office of legal counsel — came under fresh fire from lawmakers during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday. Lawmakers in both parties, including the top Republican and Democrat on the panel, disagree with the policy shift, saying it goes against the specific intent of the Inspector General Act of 1978. The law specifies that inspectors general have access to...

EXCLUSIVE: Tech company which maintained Hillary's secret server was sued for 'illegally accessing' database and 'stealing White House military advisers' phone numbers' The Internet company used by Hillary Clinton to maintain her private server was sued for stealing dozens of phone lines including some which were used by the White House. Platte River Networks is said to have illegally accessed the master database for all US phone numbers. It also seized 390 lines in a move that created chaos across the US government. Among the phone numbers which the company took - which all suddenly stopped working - were lines...

Washington is talking about the action taken by the Trump Team informing all inspector generals of federal agencies that their jobs would be on a temporary basis. In a Jan. 13 email, a transition official instructed the transition agency leads to tell the inspectors general in their agencies “that they are being held over on a temporary basis,” according to the Washington Post. Inspectors general are independent watchdogs who are typically in place for an indefinite period, regardless of the party in charge. So why would the Trump team want to let these “government watchdogs” go? Do they really do...