White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday defended President Trump's firings of at least a dozen agency inspectors general, saying Supreme Court precedent allows him the broad power to fire federal employees.

Trump's firings of the Senate-confirmed inspectors general included officials at Defense, State, Transportation, Labor, Health and Human Services, and EPA among others.

Security agents escorted the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Agriculture out of her office on Monday after she refused to comply with her firing by the Trump administration, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The full scope of the Friday night mass firings was coming into sharper view as one fired watchdog official warned of “a never-ending cycle of politicization.”