A former inspector general (IG) who was dismissed on Friday said President Donald Trump's decision to fire 17 independent watchdogs at various federal agencies constitutes a "threat to democracy" and government transparency.

Trump dismissed IGs at agencies within the Defense Department, State Department, Energy Department, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of Veterans Affairs, and more, notifying them by email from the White House Presidential Personnel Office, the Washington Post first reported.

Mike Ware, who served as the chair of the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, told MSNBC's "Ana Cabrera Reports" that he and other federal watchdogs were informed of their firing via email on Friday.

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Ware said it was "alarming" that the Trump administration had fired them over what he described as "changing priorities"—noting that IGs are not part of any administration and merely ensure there is no fraud, waste and abuse in how taxpayer funds are expended.

In 2022, Congress passed reforms that strengthened protections for IGs and made it harder to replace them with political appointees, requiring the president to explain their removal.

Ware suggested that Trump failed to provide a comprehensive reason for the mass firings and may have potentially violated the protections afforded by the reforms.

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"We're looking at what amounts to a threat to democracy, a threat to independent oversight and a threat to transparency in government. This is no doubt. The statute isn't just a technicality, it's a key protection of IG independence is what it is," Ware said.

He also claimed that the U.S. government might as well not have an independent oversight mechanism if the new administration only adheres to the IG Act in a "piecemeal manner."

The mass firing is Trump's latest attempt to force the federal bureaucracy into submission after he shut down diversity, equity and inclusion programs, rescinded job offers and sidelined more than 150 national security and foreign policy officials. 

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Trump began his second term with the intent of purging any opponents of his agenda from the government and replacing them with officials who would execute his orders without hesitation.

During his first term, Trump fired four IGs in less than two months in 2020. This included the State Department, whose inspector general had played a role in the president's impeachment proceedings.

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Fox News' Chris Pandolfo and Lucas Y. Tomlinson contributed to this report.