The president announced the nomination of an inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services, who, if confirmed, would replace an acting official whose report embarrassed Mr. Trump.
“It’s just wrong,” the president said when asked about the report on April 6. “Did I hear the word ‘inspector general’? Really? It’s wrong. And they’ll talk to you about it. It’s wrong.” He then sought to find out who wrote the report. “Where did he come from, the inspector general? What’s his name? No, what’s his name? What’s his name?”
When the reporter did not know, Mr. Trump insisted. “Well, find me his name,” the president said. “Let me know.” He expressed no interest in the report’s findings except to categorically reject them sight unseen.
Why Trump’s purge of US watchdogs is "a war on accountability."
Alex Ward at Vox (05.02.2020):
President Donald Trump’s purge of officials who question his leadership continues — this time targeting another watchdog, one who accurately described America’s dearth of medical supplies and tests as the country works to confront the coronavirus crisis.
Late on Friday, the Trump administration announced it had nominated Jason Weida — an assistant US attorney in Boston — for an inspector general position at the Department of Health and Human Services, one of the agencies tasked with responding to the country’s outbreak.
The problem is that position is already filled by Christi Grimm, who before the nomination had not publicly expressed a desire to step down as the department’s principal deputy inspector general.
So why the sudden change? The answer is easy enough to divine: her report released last month laid bare Trump’s feckless coronavirus response.
Why Grimm’s coronavirus report made Trump so angry
In late March, Grimm surveyed over 300 hospitals in nearly 50 states and territories to better understand what they faced as an influx of coronavirus patients flooded their facilities. What she found was “their most significant challenges centered on testing and caring for patients with COVID-19 and keeping staff safe. Hospitals said that severe shortages of testing supplies and extended waits for test results limited hospitals’ ability to monitor the health of patients and staff.”
“They also reported that widespread shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) put staff and patients at risk,” she also wrote. “In addition, hospitals said that they were not always able to maintain adequate staffing levels or to offer staff adequate support.”
While the report didn’t directly question the federal government’s response, it made clear hospitals still had serious concerns about their ability to care for patients many weeks after the first coronavirus case was detected in the US.
Trump was asked about this report during an April 6 press conference with the government’s coronavirus task force. He fumed at the conclusions.
“It’s just wrong. Did I hear the word ‘inspector general’? Really? It’s wrong. And they’ll talk to you about it. It’s wrong,” he asserted. And then he wanted to know exactly who wrote the report. “Where did he come from — the inspector general? What’s his name? ... No, what’s his name? What’s his name? ... If you find me his name, I’d appreciate it.”
When it became clear to him that Grimm served in the Obama administration, he derided the report as “a typical fake-news deal.” But, Grimm is a career official who’s been in government since the Clinton administration and has worked for two Democrats and two Republicans, including Trump. She took over her current role as acting inspector general after the last person in that position left.
Trump doesn’t like the fact that Christi Grimm factually reported that his handling of the COVID-19 crisis was abysmal, so he sent her packing as part of his war on accountability and oversight.
