Donald Trump continued his raid on government watchdogs Tuesday, abruptly removing the inspector general who had been tasked with overseeing the $2 trillion coronavirus rescue package signed into law late last month. The move, which came days after the president fired Michael Atkinson over his role in the impeachment proceedings, raises significant concerns about the sweeping relief bill—and signals an escalation in Trump’s assault on inspectors general, oversight officials that his allies have convinced him are part of a “deep state” effort to undermine him.

“Inspectors General are charged with doing independent oversight and exposing corruption,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff tweeted Tuesday. “Their job is to uncover the truth. Exactly why Trump fears them.”

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Acting Pentagon watchdog Glenn Fine had been tapped by a group of inspectors general to lead an oversight panel of the coronavirus relief bill, the largest in United States history. But Fine was removed from his post at the Pentagon on Tuesday, effectively barring him from his position at the panel, as only sitting inspectors general are allowed to fill the role. Sean O’Donnell, the inspector general of the Environmental Protection Agency, will also serve as the acting Pentagon IG, while Fine will serve as the principal deputy. “Mr. Fine is no longer on the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee," Dwrena Allen, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon inspector general’s office, told Politico, which first reported the shakeup.

Fine, a career official, worked under Republican and Democratic administrations. He was acting Pentagon inspector general for more than four years and previously served as inspector general at the Justice Department for 11 years, according to the Washington Post. “I know him and can tell you he was a total pain in our rear end as DOJ IG, which is exactly what you want from an IG and exactly why Trump has fired him,” tweeted former Obama Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller. “He’s tough, rigorous, and fair.”

No rationale had been given for the move as of Tuesday afternoon, but it came just days after Trump sacked Atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community, in his latest act of political score-settling. Atkinson had deemed credible the whistleblower complaint about Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine, touching off the proceedings that ultimately led to him becoming the third president in American history to be impeached. “I thought he did a terrible job,” Trump said of the fired IG. According to Axios, Trump is planning additional ousters, egged on by conservative allies who have convinced him IG’s are part of the so-called “deep state” seeking to upend his presidency. That’s raised fears that Trump, with the nation distracted by the horrifying pandemic, could continue to erode democratic norms. “Times of crisis are when democracies are in the gravest danger of crumbling,” Noah Bookbinder wrote in a New York Times op-ed Monday.

Trump’s latest attacks on independent oversight have been particularly disturbing, threatening to further hamstring the administration’s coronavirus response. In a press conference Monday, and subsequent tweets Tuesday, he attacked Health and Human Services Inspector General Christi Grimm, who in a report sounded alarms about ongoing resource shortages at U.S. hospitals. “Another Fake Dossier!” he wrote Tuesday, likening the IG report on the dire reality facing healthcare workers neglected by his administration to claims about his interactions with the Kremlin that figured into the FBI’s Russia investigation.

In shaking up the panel tasked with providing oversight on how $2 trillion in Congressionally-approved rescue funds is being spent, Trump has exacerbated concerns many Democrats had about the mammoth legislation. Senate Democrats had objected to an initial Republican relief proposal on the grounds that it provided little oversight, condemning it as a “slush fund” for Trump. They eventually secured measures they believed would provide accountability, but Trump—in signing the package—said he wouldn’t comply. Removing Fine appears to be confirmation of the fears that Trump will refuse to adhere to transparency measures. “Frankly, if the House of Representatives does not condition all further COVID aid on the restriction of the president’s removal authority, they will have made a mistake,” Paul Rosenzweig, a former Department of Homeland Security official under George W. Bush, told the Washington Post. “They should realize that the president is no longer operating in any semblance of good faith and he is more dangerous to the fabric of American democracy than the virus.”

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