Despite generally enjoying the unfettered support of Republicans who seemingly took a blood oath to back him on January 20, 2017, Donald Trump’s decision over the last week to purge not one but two inspectors general, with an eye on even more, has drawn bipartisan criticism. That likely has to do with the fact that firing Michael Atkinson, who oversaw the whistleblower complaint that led to Trump’s impeachment trial, and removing Glenn Fine from his role overseeing the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, smacked of an out-of-control despot who would stop at nothing to consolidate power, even amidst an unprecedented health and economic catastrophe. One person totally cool with the moves, though? William Barr, the president’s lackey attorney general.

In an interview with Fox News that aired Thursday night, Barr told Laura Ingraham that he fully supported Trump’s decision to oust Atkinson, which is not that surprising given his previous comments on impeachment (to wit: that the inquiry was led by people “engaged in a war to cripple, by any means necessary”). Claiming Trump, who has never done the right thing, “did the right thing” in removing the intelligence community’s internal watchdog, Barr argued that Atkinson had erred in letting people know about the whistleblower report (the contents of which, as a reminder, turned out to be 100% true). “He had interpreted his statute, which was a fairly narrow statute which gave him jurisdiction over wrongdoing…by intelligence people, and tried to turn it into a commission to explore anything in the government and immediately report it to Congress without letting the executive branch look at it and determine whether there was any problem,” Barr said of Atkinson.

While Senate Republicans have demanded an explanation re: Atkinson’s firing, Barr apparently doesn’t think one is necessary, and is happy to toe the presidential line and claim the I.G. did something wrong, which only the president and his most deranged supporters seem to believe. “I think he wants responsible watchdogs,” Barr said of Trump. (The I.G.’s office did not respond to the Washington Post’s request for comment; in a previous statement, Atkinson said he was “disappointed and saddened” by his removal, adding, “It is hard not to think that the president’s loss of confidence in me derives from my having faithfully discharged my legal obligations as an independent and impartial inspector general.”)

While Barr did not comment on the removal of Fine, he’ll surely have many future firings to defend at a later date, according to a report from the Daily Beast: