Trump ousts pandemic spending watchdog known for independence

President Donald Trump moved Tuesday to oust the leader of a new panel of watchdogs charged with overseeing how his administration spends trillions of taxpayer dollars in coronavirus pandemic relief, in the latest step in an abruptly unfolding White House power play over semi-independent inspectors general across the government.

The official, Glenn A. Fine, has been the acting inspector general for the Defense Department since before Trump took office. Last week, an umbrella group of agency inspectors general across the executive branch named him the chairman of a new Pandemic Response Accountability Committee with control of an $80 million budget to police how the government carries out the $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill.

But Trump has now abruptly named a different federal official — Sean O’Donnell, the Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general — to be the acting inspector general for the Defense Department.

The move effectively ousted Fine from his role overseeing pandemic spending as well. Fine is a former Justice Department inspector general who earned a reputation for aggression and independence in the years following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

In a statement, Dwrena K Allen, a spokeswoman for the office of the inspector general at the Pentagon, said Trump designated O’Donnell to simultaneously serve as the acting leader of the office Monday in addition to his duties at the EPA.

The committee consists of nine inspectors general from across the executive branch. Congress created it as part of the coronavirus relief bill. Fine had been selected to lead it by a larger group of inspectors general.

Democrats immediately condemned Fine’s sudden removal from that role.

“This is a major problem,” Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., who heads the House Armed Services Committee, said Tuesday. “Trump wants sycophants. This leads to another epidemic: incompetence.”

O’Brien is also known as an aggressive inspector general who is not afraid to anger political appointees. He has issued reports that are critical of the EPA and the Trump appointee who leads it, Andrew Wheeler, who has sought to limit O’Brien’s authority and oversight.

O’Brien’s replacement of Fine, who remains the No. 2 official at the Pentagon watchdog office, does not mean that O’Brien becomes the chairman of the pandemic oversight efforts. The larger group of inspectors general will now need to decide who to select for that position.

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