shadows as trump takes over the Office of Special Counsel which is supposed to protect whistleblowers. Trump nominated Paul Ingrassia to lead the agency. Ingrassia, a self-described “true MAGA loyalist,”
Whistleblowers shun office that’s supposed to protect them amid fears of Trump partisanship
By Marshall Cohen, CNN
Updated: 2:00 PM EDT, Mon June 16, 2025
The Office of Special Counsel has for nearly 50 years been the US government’s one-stop shop for whistleblowers and alleged ethics violations, a federal watchdog created after Watergate with the lofty mandate “to end government and political corruption.”
Now it appears to be facing its biggest test yet, as insiders and independent watchdogs raise alarms that the historically nonpartisan agency has been “captured” by loyalists from the very administration it’s supposed to police.
In their eyes, a difficult situation got even worse a few weeks ago when President Donald Trump nominated Paul Ingrassia to lead the agency. Ingrassia, a self-described “true MAGA loyalist,” has embraced calls to crack down on the supposed anti-Trump “deep state” within the federal workforce.
Though Ingrassia will need to be confirmed by the Republican-led Senate, his nomination has already fueled speculation that he’ll transform the agency into a political tool to promote Trump’s agenda and punish the president’s enemies.