Power Grab/Fire anyone who can stop him
Trump nominates a Project 2025 co-author already installed in the Interior inspector general’s office
Dennis Kirk would fill the post left vacant when Mark Lee Greenblatt was removed in the January 2025 firing of 17 inspectors general.
What happened
On August 7, 2026, Trump nominated Dennis Kirk of Virginia to be inspector general of the Interior Department. The post was vacated when Mark Lee Greenblatt was removed in the January 2025 mass firing of 17 inspectors general.
Kirk co-wrote the federal-workforce chapter of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 and held a senior Office of Personnel Management post in Trump’s first term. In 2025 Tulsi Gabbard placed him inside the intelligence community inspector general’s office.
Greenblatt and Rep. Jared Huffman said Kirk had already been installed in the Interior inspector general’s office as a political appointee. Two Senate Democrats had just asked that office to investigate the Reflecting Pool contracts.
Who benefited
The White House gains a political appointee, not an independent auditor, in the office that two Senate Democrats had just asked to investigate the Reflecting Pool contracts. Kirk was placed there before the nomination. Kirk was placed in the Interior inspector general’s office before the nomination, according to Greenblatt and Rep. Jared Huffman, and not by any vote.
Who wanted something
Trump wanted a Project 2025 co-author in a post whose last holder he removed. Kirk wrote the federal-workforce chapter and held a senior OPM post in Trump’s first term, before Gabbard placed him in the intelligence community office in 2025.
Who lost out
Greenblatt lost the post in the January 2025 firings, and the office is now being filled by a political appointee. Two Senate Democrats had just asked that office to investigate the Reflecting Pool contracts. Mark Lee Greenblatt was one of the 17 inspectors general removed in January 2025, and the vacancy he left is the one Kirk is nominated to fill.
Why it matters
A watchdog office was emptied by firing and then occupied by an appointee before any Senate vote, just as two Senate Democrats asked it to investigate the Reflecting Pool contracts. Greenblatt and Huffman say Kirk was already in the office.
Sources Congress.gov (primary)Government ExecutiveWashington PostE&E News