Judge temporarily reinstates head of whistleblower office fired by Trump

A federal judge late Wednesday agreed to a temporary restraining order blocking President Trump from firing the head of the Office of the Special Counsel, keeping a key protector of whistleblowers in place.

The order from Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointee, keeps Hampton Dellinger in his job after Trump fired him on Friday.

“The effort by the White House to terminate the Special Counsel without identifying any cause plainly contravenes the statute, which states, ‘[t]he Special Counsel may be removed by the President only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office,’” Jackson wrote.

“This language expresses Congress’s clear intent to ensure the independence of the Special Counsel and insulate his work from being buffeted by the winds of political change.”

The order leaves Dellinger in place amid further court action to determine whether he can keep his job.

Dellinger, a Biden nominee, used the Trump administration Monday, saying he was fired in a “one sentence email” without explaining why his five-year term was being cut short.

Jackson previously issued an order keeping Dellinger in his post until Thursday night.

Dellinger’s role as special counsel, distinct from the role played by the same title at the Justice Department, puts him in a prime position to question actions taken by the Trump administration.

The OSC provides another avenue for whistleblowers to report concerns about 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.

Returned to the job Tuesday, one of the first actions of Dellinger’s team was to refer a Hatch Act violation concerning a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) employee who told employees not to visit houses with Trump signs.