President Donald Trump and other Republicans are defending his decision to oust a dozen-and-a-half Senate confirmed inspectors general from their posts, even as opposing members of Congress say he’s stepped outside of the law.

According to the Trump, the decision to remove the people responsible for prevention and detection of fraud and abuse within the sprawling federal government is a “very common thing to do.”

“Some people thought that some were unfair or some were not doing their job. It’s a very standard thing to do,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday.

The Inspectors General were notified by email on Friday that they’d been terminated from their positions “due to changing priorities” and with immediate effect.

While Trump’s claim that removing the inspectors general is “common” stretches the definition of that word, his actions are not without precedent.

Former President Ronald Reagan used his first days in office in 1981 to remove 16 inspectors general, but rehired five of them amidst backlash. Former President George H.W. Bush tried to fire all of his, but eventually backed down. Trump himself went on an IG-firing spree toward the end of his first term in office, removing five IGs over the course of six weeks.

However, according to a group ranking House Democrats, Trump’s attempt to remove the congressionally approved investigators from their oversight positions falls outside the rules of a 2022 law requiring a 30-day notice be sent to Congress ahead of an IG’s removal. The law, according to the Democrats, mandates that the president provide “substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons,” for removing an IG.

“The email terminating the inspectors general fails to provide the required notice and a legitimate rationale, as required by law,” they wrote in a letter addressed to the president.

Trump’s “brazen attempt to purge Inspectors General” isn’t just unlawful, it is an attack on U.S. Democracy that “undermines the safety of the American people,” according to U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, the ranking minority member of the House Oversight committee.

“My fellow Ranking Members and I are demanding he reverse course and comply with the law,” the Virginian said via social media.

In a letter sent to Sergio Gor, Trump’s Director of Presidential Personnel, Hannibal Ware, the Chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, seemed to indicate that without providing the reasons for their removal and abiding by the legally mandated timeline, Trump has failed to actually dismiss anyone at all.

“I recommend that you reach out to White House Counsel to discuss your intended course of action. At this point, we do not believe the actions taken are legally sufficient to dismiss Presidentially Appointed, Senate Confirmed Inspectors General,” Ware wrote.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham told NBC News on Sunday that Trump’s decision was his to make, and that, though he may have violated the 30-day notification law, replacing people in the federal bureaucracy is precisely what Trump was elected to do.

“It’s not the first time people have come in and put their team in – when you win an election, you need people in your administration that reflect your views,” he said.

His Republican colleague, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, seemed to agree, and said the notification constraint put on Trump by Congress won’t hold up to legal scrutiny, since the president is allowed to manage the employees of the Executive Branch.

“Time and time again the Supreme Court has said that Congress can’t impose restrictions on the president’s power to remove officers,” Cotton told Fox News Sunday. “Ultimately these inspectors general serve at the pleasure of the president. He wants new people in there. He wants new people focused on getting out waste, fraud, and abuse and reforming these agencies. He has a right to get in there who he wants.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren warned that Trump’s attempt to remove those IGs represents a “purge of independent watchdogs in the middle of the night.”

“Inspectors general are charged with rooting out government waste, fraud, abuse, and preventing misconduct, President Trump is dismantling checks on his power and paving the way for widespread corruption,” Warren wrote via social media.

The Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, said there may be “good reason the IGs were fired,” but acknowledged that Trump had failed to provide the legally required notice.

“I’d like further explanation from President Trump. Regardless, the 30 day detailed notice of removal that the law demands was not provided to Congress,” the Republican said in a statement.

The ranking minority member of the Judiciary Committee, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, said in a statement that Trump is attempting to reshape the government so that its employees have “loyalty to Donald Trump and Donald Trump alone.”

“It is a brazen attempt to rig these offices to look the other way when violations of law take place. These dismissals clearly violate federal law, which requires the President to provide Congress with 30-day notice of intent and detailed reasons to fire inspectors general,” Durbin said.

Herald wire service contributed.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)