Trump’s federal watchdogs are doing the job past IGs let slide — and the old guard hates it
Trump's federal watchdogs are doing the job past IGs ignored
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118+ best Amazon Prime Day deals, hand-picked and updated live for 2026 OpinionTrump’s federal watchdogs are doing the job past IGs let slide — and the old guard hates it
By Anthony D’Esposito Published June 22, 2026, 6:30 a.m. ET
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Add The New York Post on GoogleA former federal inspector general has been sniping at President Donald Trump’s approach to rooting out government fraud — but his complaints sound less like a serious defense of oversight and more like a bitter kiss-off from a spurned ex-bureaucrat.
“The watchdogs have crossed a dangerous line,” Mark Greenblatt intoned in the Daily Beast. “They’ve become lapdogs” — “MAGA lapdogs,” as his headline put it.
He’s furious that my inspector general colleagues and I are joining the wide-ranging effort, led by Vice President JD Vance, to crack down on the fraud that’s looting our national treasury.
Greenblatt’s argument rests on a flawed premise: He claims that supporting such a mission somehow prevents an inspector general from conducting independent oversight.
That’s nonsense.
The Inspector General Act, which established the job I hold at the Labor Department, does not require blindness to policy priorities.
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It requires independence in conducting audits, investigations and oversight.
There’s a significant difference between supporting efforts to protect taxpayer dollars and compromising investigative integrity.
Apparently, that distinction escapes Greenblatt.
In fact, rooting out waste, fraud and abuse is precisely what inspectors general are supposed to do.
My office has aggressively pursued pandemic-era unemployment fraud, identifying hundreds of millions of dollars in recoverable taxpayer funds and freezing suspicious accounts.
We’ve launched investigations that have resulted in arrests, prosecutions and recovery efforts nationwide.
None of that has compromised a single investigation.
In fact, our investigative work has expanded — because we refuse to sit on the sidelines issuing academic critiques while criminals steal from hard-working Americans.
Greenblatt seems particularly disturbed that I’m working side by side with Keith Sonderling, the Labor Department’s acting secretary, and actively participating in Vance’s White House Fraud Task Force.
He presents collaboration as evidence of political capture.
Yet Americans expect government agencies and officials to coordinate and collaborate when confronting major problems like the historic levels of fraud we’ve uncovered.
Isolating IGs from operational discussions simply to preserve the appearance of independence is exactly the type of outdated thinking that allowed hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to disappear in the first place.
My responsibility is not to protect Washington traditions — but to protect taxpayers.
That means sitting at the table when solutions are being developed.
It means working with agency leaders when reforms are needed.
It means collaborating with the vice president’s task force when coordinated enforcement can help recover stolen funds.
And it means retaining complete independence when audits, investigations or prosecutions require scrutiny of anyone — regardless of title, position or political affiliation.
Before entering public service, I spent nearly two decades as a highly decorated NYPD detective.
My job was simple: follow the facts, find the suspects, embrace technology and build the case.
Criminals don’t wear political labels, and investigators don’t ask about party affiliation before pursuing the truth.
That mindset shaped my career in law enforcement and continues to guide every decision I make as an IG.
The reality is simple: independence is measured by actions.
My office follows evidence wherever it leads.
We conduct criminal investigations, execute audits, issue public reports and make findings based on facts.
We don’t check polling data before issuing subpoenas, or seek permission before exposing failures.
In fact, one of my office’s first significant actions under my leadership was opening an investigation involving now-former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.
She was Trump’s appointee and ally, yet we proceeded because the facts warranted review and because independence requires following the evidence.
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What frustrates some members of the old watchdog establishment is not that this administration’s IGs are less independent; it’s that we’re more effective.
For too long, government oversight meant nothing but reports that gathered dust and recommendations that were ignored.
But Americans want results.
They want stolen money recovered and fraudsters prosecuted.
They want accountability.
That’s exactly what we are delivering.
Perhaps if Greenblatt had been doing the job Americans expected him to do, we wouldn’t find ourselves still digging out from the rampant, unchecked fraud of the Biden administration.
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But while he’s lamenting change, others are busy finding fraud, protecting taxpayers and restoring public trust through action.
Anthony D’Esposito, the Labor Department’s inspector general, represented Nassau County in the US House of Representatives.
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