Picking Paul Ingrassia to lead the U.S. Office of Special Counsel is not like putting the fox in charge of the hen house. It’s more like setting fire to the whole farm.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump nominated the former far-right podcast host to lead the important albeit little-known federal agency office. OSC is not to be confused with the special counsel position recently occupied by Jack Smith, who was appointed under federal regulations by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Trump for alleged violations of criminal law. Instead, OSC is an independent agency created by Congress as part of the Civil Service Reform Act in the wake of the Watergate scandal.
The nature of the work demands an experienced investigator who is scrupulously apolitical. Ingrassia is anything but.
The office protects whistleblowers and other federal workers from unlawful employment practices. OSC also enforces the Hatch Act, the law that bars political activity in the federal workplace. The nature of the work demands an experienced investigator who is scrupulously apolitical. Ingrassia is anything but.
The 30-year-old Ingrassia has been a lawyer for only three years. He previously was a fellow at the Claremont Institute, the same far-right think tank that brought us John Eastman, a key alleged architect of the 2020 election’s fake elector scheme. According to its website, Claremont is currently “working to undermine the Left’s hold over America’s institutions and conscience.”
Ingrassia doesn’t have the legal experience for the role. But he has something more important, at least for this administration. Early in Trump’s second term, Ingrassia served as the president’s liaison to the Justice Department, where he referred to himself as Trump’s “eyes and ears,” according to NBC News. He was reassigned to the Department of Homeland Security after he reportedly clashed with DOJ officials by pushing to hire candidates with “exceptional loyalty” to Trump, reports ABC News.
His views on the Jan. 6 riot are extreme, even by MAGA standards. In December, Ingrassia called for not only pardons of the Jan. 6 defendants, but also for $1 million per family in reparations. He advocated for Trump to “expressly name, in a public proclamation, any judge and prosecutor involved in the J6 scam — and call on them to resign from their offices, and pressure Congress to undertake impeachment proceedings against them if they do not cooperate.” Ingrassia also urged Congress to make Jan. 6 a national holiday to place “the day’s events in their proper historical context: as a peaceful protest against a great injustice affecting our electoral system.” Ingrassia has referred to former Vice President Mike Pence as a traitor who belongs in “the ninth circle of hell.”
Of course, all private citizens are entitled to express their opinions, but someone who is either as delusional or sycophantic as Ingrassia is, in my opinion, simply unfit to lead an agency that is tasked with enforcing nonpartisanship.
In February, Trump fired the prior head of OSC, Hampton Dellinger, a Joe Biden appointee who was only one year into a five-year term set by Congress. Dellinger challenged his removal, alleging it violated a federal law that prohibits termination except for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” A court had found Dellinger’s dismissal unlawful, but Dellinger dropped his lawsuit when an appeals court declined to reinstate him.
The selection of Ingrassia to lead OSC rivals the nomination of Ed Martin as U.S. attorney in Washington. Trump’s move to effectively neuter OSC may be in response to the agency’s oversight during his first term, when investigators found that 13 senior administration officials violated the Hatch Act by campaigning while conducting official government business. A loyalist at the helm of the agency could help Trump avoid similar findings. What’s more, without an independent watchdog in charge, whistleblowers may be reluctant to come forward with complaints of fraud, waste and abuse at federal agencies. Federal employees will also lose their advocate in cases of prohibited personnel practices, such as discrimination, coercing political activity or violations of our merit system in the civil service. This move threatens the integrity and efficiency of our civil service. The selection of Ingrassia to lead OSC rivals the nomination of Ed Martin as U.S. attorney in Washington. Trump ultimately withdrew Martin’s nomination after he failed to earn support from key Republican senators. Martin now leads the Justice Department’s “Weaponization Working Group” and serves as Trump’s pardon attorney, where he has already processed two dozen pardons that include corrupt public officials, business executives and Trump supporters. Last week, Martin posted on social media, “No MAGA left behind.” Like the U.S. attorney position, the head of the Office of Special Counsel must be confirmed by the Senate. For the sake of our federal workforce and the important work they do for our country, let’s hope this nomination meets the same fate as Martin’s.
Barbara McQuade is a former Michigan U.S. attorney and legal analyst. 
