Acting Pentagon inspector general Glenn Fine was set to oversee the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, the group that had been formed to monitor the massive influx of coronavirus relief funds. Now Trump has tapped EPA inspector general Sean O'Donnell to replace Fine as top watchdog at the Pentagon in addition to continuing his work at the EPA. In other words, O'Donnell will be dividing his time between two massive agencies.

It appears Fine was a particular threat to Trump because he built a reputation for exercising aggressive independence while serving as the Justice Department's IG and investigating the FBI's post-9/11 surveillance programs. Fine will now return to his previous post as principal deputy inspector general of the Pentagon.

But when it comes to IGs, Trump's been on a tear lately. On Friday, he axed Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community IG who committed the cardinal sin of informing Congress about the Ukraine-related whistleblower complaint. House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff said Tuesday that his panel is now investigating Atkinson's ouster.

Trump also spent Tuesday morning on the war path against the Health and Human Services IG who had the audacity to issue a report Monday on the "unprecedented" challenges hospitals are facing in securing supplies to battle the novel coronavirus. Christi Grimm, the principal deputy inspector general whose name is attached to that report, is surely trying to save lives by detailing the deadly inefficiencies of the federal government's response. So instead of asking the federal government for an assessment of its own work, Grimm went straight to the hospitals to ascertain whether they were actually getting the resources they needed. Big mistake. Trump dismissed the report as "Another Fake Dossier!”

So much for trying to save lives—Trump is offended. And surely he's searching for a way to muzzle Grimm, because retribution is among his chief priorities during a global pandemic.