President Donald Trump has tapped Brian Miller for a coronavirus inspector general position, which came about after he signed a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill. Photo by Erin Schaff/UPI | License Photo

April 4 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump tapped White House lawyer Brian Miller to become special inspector general for pandemic recovery, overseeing the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill.

In the new position, Miller will track Department of Treasury loans, loan guarantees and other expenditures related to the COVID-19 pandemic.


Miller is special assistant to the president and senior associate counsel in the office of White House Counsel.

He previously served as the Senate-confirmed Inspector General for the General Services Administration for nearly a decade, leading more than 300 auditors, special agents, attorneys and support staff on nationwide audits and investigations, the White House said Friday.

Miller has also served on high-level Department of Justice positions, such as senior counsel to the deputy attorney general and special counsel on healthcare fraud.

The new position, authorized for five years, was created as part of the bill to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Other layers of oversight for the dispersal of funding include a congressional oversight panel and a committee of inspectors general called the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee.

"With trillions of taxpayer dollars being spent, it is critically important for the administration to ensure full transparency and willingness for independent oversight," Sens. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and Jon Tester, D-Mont., wrote in a letter to Trump on Friday.

Trump announced his selection of Miller Friday, along with his intent to nominate several other people to inspectors general of departments and agencies.

Peter Thomson, an attorney specializing in white-collar crimes and former prosecutor at the Department of Justice for 23 years was tapped to be the inspector general at the CIA. Katherine Crytzer, who serves as acting deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy was tapped to the Tennessee Valley Authority position. Andrew De Mello, who serves as a trial attorney for the Justice Department tax division was tapped for the Department of Education position. And Jason Abend, who serves as senior policy adviser for the United States Customs and Border Protection was tapped for the Pentagon.