Watchdog agency head fired by Trump ends fight to keep his job

The former head of a federal watchdog agency announced Thursday that he will no longer challenge his firing by President Trump . Hampton Dellinger ended his legal battle to stay on as head of the Office of Special Counsel one day after a panel of judges on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Trump administration and lifted a lower court’s injunction which blocked the president from removing him from the independent agency. “I’m ending my legal battle so my time as Special Counsel and head of the US Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is now over,” Dellinger said in a statement.

“My fight to stay on the job was not for me, but rather for the ideal that OSC should be as Congress intended: an independent watchdog and a safe, trustworthy place for whistleblowers to report wrongdoing and be protected from retaliation,” he added. Dellinger was appointed by former President Joe Biden last March to lead the Office of Special Counsel – an independent agency tasked with investigating and prosecuting workplace misconduct in the executive branch. OSC is also responsible for enforcing the Hatch Act, which restricts the partisan political activities of government workers.



Dellinger, who could’ve taken his legal battle to the Supreme Court, cited Wednesday’s court ruling and the long odds of winning a high-court showdown as reasons for ending it. “I’m stopping the fight because, yesterday, circuit court judges reviewing the trial court decision in my favor granted the government’s request that I be removed from office while the case continues,” he said. “This new ruling means that OSC will be run by someone totally beholden to the President for the months that would pass before I could get a final decision from the US Supreme Court,” Dellinger continued.

“I think the circuit judges erred badly because their willingness to sign off on my ouster – even if presented as possibly temporary – immediately erases the independence Congress provided for my position.” Dellinger expressed fear that the “harm” from the appeals court ruling may be “uncorrectable.” Dellinger sued the Trump administration in DC federal court after being notified last month via email that he was being terminated.

“That email made no attempt to comply with the Special Counsel’s for-cause removal protection,” his initial complaint read. “It stated simply: ‘On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as Special Counsel of the US Office of Special Counsel is terminated, effective immediately.

’” Dellinger argued that his firing was illegal because of a federal law indicating that special counsels can only be removed by the commander in chief “for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance of office.” He also pointed to DOGE chief Elon Musk’s initiative to layoff federal workers to claim he’s “needed now more than ever.” The Trump administration countered that the removal protections shielding Dellinger were unconstitutional.

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