The former head of an independent agency responsible for protecting federal whistleblowers on Thursday said he will abandon his legal fight to stay in office after an appeals court ruled in favor of the Trump administration.
“I’m ending my legal battle so my time as Special Counsel and head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is now over,” Hampton Dellinger wrote in a statement Thursday. “I’m stopping the fight because, yesterday, circuit court judges reviewing the trial court decision in my favor granted the government’s request that I be removed from office while the case continues.”