President Donald Trump fired more than a dozen inspectors general across the federal government apparently without giving Congress the required notice and reasons, providing an early test for a recently formed caucus aimed at protecting agency watchdogs.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, launched the bipartisan Inspector General Caucus less than two weeks ago with five other senators and the mission to “support federal watchdogs in their efforts to ensure government accountability and compliance with the law.”

On Friday, Trump fired the internal watchdogs at the departments of Defense, State, Transportation, Labor, Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Energy, Commerce, Treasury and Agriculture, as well as several independent agencies, according to media reports.

Such a large-scale firing of internal watchdogs has not happened for decades. Several experts argued that the firings were a threat to the entire system established in the 1970s for internal watchdogs to root out waste, fraud and abuse.

The last time so many inspectors general were fired was in 1981 when President Ronald Reagan fired more than a dozen officials when he came into office, said Paul C. Light, professor emeritus at NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service.

The firings represent a critical moment in the IG system, and its survival will depend on the response to Trump’s actions, said Light, who served on a federal commission on government employment reform and has written books on federal investigations and inspectors general. Several of the IGs fired by Reagan were rehired following pushback from IGs and Congress.

Unless there’s a similar pushback this time around from members of Congress or the courts, “I think it’s going to be a damning effect on the concept of IGs,” Light said.

In 2020, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, held up several Trump administration nominations until he received further explanations from the Trump administration about the firing of the State Department inspector general.

This time, Grassley, who joined Ernst on the IG caucus, said he wants further explanation from the Trump administration about the firings.

“There may be good reason the IGs were fired. We need to know that if so. 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,” Grassley’s statement said.

A spokesperson for Ernst said she would try to learn more about the firings. “Senator Ernst looks forward to learning more about this decision and working with the president to nominate replacements, so the important work of independent investigators to root out waste, fraud, and abuse can continue with full transparency,” the statement said.

Trump: Microsoft in talks to buy TikTok

Microsoft Corp. is in talks to acquire the U.S. arm of ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok, President Donald Trump said Monday night, without elaborating.

“I would say yes,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when asked if Microsoft is in discussions to purchase the app. “A lot of interest in TikTok. There’s great interest in TikTok.”

The short video app, used by more than 170 million Americans, has drawn interest from many corners of the U.S. tech industry. AI startup Perplexity has submitted a bid to merge with TikTok US, while billionaire Frank McCourt, former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, made a formal offer to buy TikTok earlier this month. Microsoft and Oracle Corp. were in the running to acquire TikTok in 2020, when Trump first pressured ByteDance to either sell in the U.S. or face a ban.

Microsoft declined to comment on reports of the company’s involvement.

U.S. attorney in D.C. probing prosecutors

President Donald Trump’s new U.S. attorney in Washington has opened an internal investigation into the use of an obstruction statute brought against scores of people charged with taking part in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to an email obtained by The New York Times.

The move by Ed Martin, who was named by Trump last week to run the federal prosecutor’s office, was the latest example of how he has sought in recent days to wind down — even discredit — the office’s sprawling investigation of the Capitol attack. It came on the same day that top Justice Department officials fired several prosecutors who worked for special counsel Jack Smith on two separate criminal cases brought against Trump.

In an email Monday to members of his staff, Martin described the use of the obstruction law, which was brought against more than 250 Jan. 6 defendants, as a “great failure of our office.”

“We need to get to the bottom of it,” he wrote, adding that all of the prosecutors working under him needed to turn over all “files, documents, notes, emails and other information” about their use of the statute as soon as possible.

Martin said he expected a preliminary report about the office’s use of the law to be finished by Friday, but it remained unclear exactly what he intended to do with the report’s findings.

California sees rain, and snow after fires

The first significant storm of the season brought snow and downpours to Southern California that doused wildfires and caused some ash and mud to flow across streets in the Los Angeles area on Monday.

More than an inch of rain fell in many areas, loosening Los Angeles hillsides burned bare by the recent blaze near the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, where crews cleared inundated roadways including the Pacific Coast Highway.

In neighboring Malibu, four schools were closed Monday “due to dangerous road conditions,” the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District said in a statement.

Clouds were clearing, but flood watches from lingering pockets of rain were still in effect for fire-scarred areas of the Palisades, Altadena and Castaic Lake.

Goma apparently falls to Congo rebels

Thousands fled the city of Goma on Monday as fighting raged between Congolese forces and rebels backed by neighboring Rwanda, who claimed to have captured eastern Congo’s largest regional hub.

Pockets of chaos and gunfire had some people hunkering down as the rebels marched into the city with a population of about 2 million. Others hurried to safer areas of the province; some applauded and cheered on the rebels from the roadside, even shaking hands with them. Many, however, tried to flee into neighboring Rwanda.

Goma is a key location in the conflict-battered North Kivu province whose minerals are critical to much of the world’s technology. Rebel groups have long fought over control of eastern Congo’s mineral wealth, and the conflict has often pitted ethnic groups against one another, with civilians forced to flee their homes and seek protection from armed groups.

It was unclear how much of Goma was occupied by the rebels, but the events are a huge escalation in the decades-long battle between the two countries.

Justices allow Miss. voting law to stand

The Supreme Court on Monday left in place Mississippi’s Jim Crow-era practice of removing voting rights from people convicted of certain felonies, including nonviolent crimes such as forgery and timber theft.

The justices, without comment, turned away an appeal from Mississippi residents who have completed their sentences, but who have been unable to regain their right to vote.

The court’s action let stand a ruling by the full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that rejected the claim that permanent loss of voting rights amounted to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Constitution. Mississippi legislators, not the courts, must decide whether to change the laws, the 5th circuit said.

No justice noted a dissent from Monday’s order.

Suspect in agent’s death linked to guns

A Washington state woman charged in connection with the fatal shooting of a U.S. border patrol agent in Vermont had been in frequent contact with someone whom authorities have linked to homicides in Pennsylvania and California, a federal prosecutor said in court documents Monday.

Teresa Youngblut, 21, faces two weapons charges in connection with the death of Border Patrol Agent David Maland, 44, who died Jan. 20 during the shootout in Coventry, a small town about 20 miles from the Canadian border. She had been traveling with Felix Bauckholt, a German citizen who also was killed, and the pair had been under surveillance for several days.

In a motion filed Monday, U.S. Attorney Michael Drescher said Youngblut should be detained as the case proceeds due to the nature of the crime, the weight of evidence against her, her lack of ties to Vermont, and the danger she poses to the community.

According to the motion, the gun used by Youngblut and one that Bauckholt was carrying were purchased by a third person in Vermont last February. The buyer is a person of interest on a double homicide investigation in Pennsylvania, Drescher said.

Deputy shoots pardoned Jan. 6 rioter

An Indiana man was fatally shot by a deputy during a traffic stop just days after he was pardoned by President Donald Trump for a misdemeanor related to the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot.

Matthew Huttle, 42, of Hobart, was killed Sunday by a Jasper County sheriff’s deputy, authorities said.

State police are investigating. They said the deputy tried to arrest Huttle when “an altercation took place between the suspect and the officer, which resulted in the officer firing his weapon and fatally wounding the suspect.

“The investigation also shows that during the traffic stop, the suspect was in possession of a firearm,” state police added.

No other details were released. Authorities didn’t say what might have prompted the traffic stop.

— From news services