If the head of a US government agency suspects serious problems or malfeasance on the part of the staff of their agency, there is an inspector general to whom they can turn to and initiate an investigation. That's what the office of inspector general is intended for. However, inspector generals are made to follow guidelines intended to ensure that their work is carried out in an unbiased manner. For a political hatchet job, an inspector general's office may not prove particularly effective.
The person that Trump installed as the head of the USAGM -- US Agency for Global Media (operates Voice of America and other media outreach efforts) saw it as his job to remake the operations under his control into vehicles for Trumpist propaganda. He also decided he needed to purge anybody in the various organizations who wasn't on board with that agenda. The inspector general of the USAGM couldn't be depended on to help him carry out his purge. So he spent millions of dollars of government funds to sic a private law firm on his staff. They didn't produce the desired result.
'Trump Appointee At VOA Parent Paid Law Firm Millions To Investigate His Own Staff'
Last summer, an appointee of former President Donald Trump was irate because he could not simply fire top executives who had warned him that some of his plans might be illegal.
Michael Pack, who was CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media that oversees Voice of America, in August suspended those top executives. He also immediately ordered up an investigation to determine what wrongdoing the executives might have committed.
Instead of turning to inspectors general or civil servants to investigate, Pack personally signed a no-bid contract to hire a high-profile law firm with strong Republican ties.
The bill — footed by taxpayers — exceeded $1 million in just the first few months of the contract.
Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit that represents federal whistleblowers accusing Pack and some of his inner circle of breaking U.S. laws and regulations, shared an analysis it conducted of documents related to the contract between Pack and the law firm.
The documents, obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act, are likely to add to Pack's troubles even out of government; his actions have inspired numerous rebukes from federal and Washington, D.C., judges and in findings from official government investigators, and he remains the subject of other formal reviews.
The group's analysis of the new documents, shared with NPR, found the law firm McGuireWoods charged more than $320 per hour for 3,200 billable hours from August through October alone. It devoted five partners, six associates, two lawyers "of counsel," two staff attorneys, seven paralegals, three case assistants, 14 other timekeepers, and 11 "outsourced attorneys" to the work.
(According to exchanges between USAGM staffers reviewed by NPR, November and December charges from the law firm exceeded $1.2 million. Those exchanges were not part of the documents released on Thursday.)
...
"The engagement constitutes gross mismanagement, gross waste of taxpayer dollars and abuse of authority," David Seide of the Government Accountability Project, wrote in a letter Thursday to congressional committees with oversight of the USAGM.
"The 'deliverables' provided by McGuireWoods are — always were — of questionable value," he wrote. "The investigations produced nothing that could justify the kind of discipline Mr. Pack sought to impose on current USAGM employees he did not like — he wanted them fired (they have since been reinstated). Investigations of former employees also yielded nothing."
...
Seide from the nonprofit noted that political appointees are not supposed to oversee federal contracts. Yet the documents show the law firm's point of contact at the agency was Sam Dewey, a political appointee who was a top adviser and attorney for Pack, who had separately investigated several Voice of America journalists for perceived anti-Trump bias.
One of the things Pack had the private law firm look into was the audit of Secretary of State Clinton's emails. You know, just because it seemed like a good idea. And why not? It wasn't his money being spent on a political vendetta.
