President Trump has ousted another inspector general, the fourth IG in the last six weeks. This time, Steve Linick of the State Department was cashiered. The White House says the president has his reasons for no longer having “the fullest confidence” in IG Linick. Perhaps . . . but it is curious how these removals always seem to happen late on Fridays, when administrations do things they’d prefer you didn’t notice.

Never let it be said that the Trump administration can't walk and chew gum at the same time. Even as the president's minions work overtime to botch every single aspect of the federal response to the COVID-19 crisis and prepare to cover up the number of cases and the number of deaths in order to make his "numbers" look good, they still manage to find the time to complete the purge of Trump critics within the government and destroy all mechanisms for accountability.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's decision Friday to fire his department's inspector general marks the fourth time within the last three months that an internal agency watchdog has been targeted for removal by the Trump administration.

IGs are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Working within the agency they monitor, the inspector generals and their staffs are charged with reporting on government malfeasance and corruption.

Here's a look at the inspector generals who have been ousted recently: