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Watchdogs fired by Trump raise alarms over future of independent oversight

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Hampton Dellinger was head of the Office of Special Counsel , which handled federal employee complaints and government whistleblowers, until he was fired in February .

Dellinger: "I don't think we have watchdog agencies anymore. The inspector generals are gone. I'm gone," Dellinger said.

No president has fired the heads of the watchdog offices, en masse, in 44 years .

Cathy Harris is on the federal board that hears appeals of fired federal employees.

She was fired by the Trump administration, though she was reinstated by a judge earlier this month .

The White House's actions feel like an intentional dismantling of independent oversight, a whistleblower lawyer says.

"I just couldn't look myself in the mirror and walk away from this," Harris says.