President Donald Trump fired several more executive branch appointees Friday night, setting off a fresh legal challenge. | Ben Curtis/AP
02/10/2025 11:21 AM EST
Updated: 02/10/2025 06:12 PM EST
A federal ethics enforcer swept up in a spree of firings President Donald Trump carried out Friday night is suing to get his job back.
The lawsuit from Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger is the latest case that will test the president’s power to fire officials across the executive branch despite federal laws that seek to protect those officials from politically motivated firings.
Dellinger was appointed by President Joe Biden to lead the Office of Special Counsel, which has no connection to the similarly titled special counsel offices that handle politically sensitive criminal cases at the Justice Department. The office enforces federal whistleblower laws and the Hatch Act — the main statute limiting political activity by federal employees. The office also fields complaints from veterans about discrimination upon their return from military service.
Dellinger sued Monday in federal court in Washington after being sacked Friday in an email sent by Sergio Gor, director of the Presidential Personnel Office in the White House.
“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. Thank you for your service,” Gor wrote in the terse message viewed...
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