Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins holds up his dogtags on Jan. 21, 2025, during his Senate confirmation hearing. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — Doug Collins, the new secretary at the Department of Veterans Affairs, temporarily assumed open leadership posts at two federal watchdog agencies after President Donald Trump fired their leaders in a move criticized by some Democratic lawmakers.
The president designated Collins to serve as interim director at the Office of Government Ethics and the Office of Special Counsel.
“Barely one week on the job, Doug Collins should have enough on his plate taking the reins of the largest health care system in the country,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, who called for Collins to step aside and focus on veterans. “Upon his confirmation, [Collins] was placed in charge of a department that serves more than 9 million veterans but has been under constant assault from unlawful directives from the White House that blatantly endanger veterans and the life-saving services they have earned.”
Trump tapped Collins to fill in at the Office of Government Ethics, after the president terminated director David Huitema on Monday. Huitema was a political appointee of former President Joe Biden and had been in his job since December 2024.
The office is an independent agency that oversees ethics rules and financial disclosures. The director is appointed by the president to a five-year term.
After the White House announced Collins’ interim role as director, the agency said Shelley Finlay, chief of staff and program counsel at the Office of Government Ethics, had been named acting director, according to announcement on the agency’s website.
The Office of Government Ethics did not respond to a request for comment.
Collins also briefly stepped into the top role at the Office of Special Counsel, after Trump fired Hampton Dellinger as special counsel on Feb. 7.
Dellinger filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday claiming his termination was illegal and requesting an emergency hearing. He has served in his role since March 2024. A judge on Tuesday ordered him to return to his job until documents in the case are reviewed.
A decision is expected Thursday or Friday.
“Per an emergency court order issued Monday night in response to a lawsuit filed by Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger challenging the legality of his attempted ouster, Mr. Dellinger remains the head of OSC,” the agency said.
According to Dellinger’s lawsuit, he “is entitled to continue to serve as special counsel for the remainder of his five-year term and may be removed by the president ‘only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office’.”
The Office of Special Counsel investigates and prosecutes wrongdoing in the government.
