US President Donald Trump misfires on watchdogs, mail-in voting

Man bites watchdog.

In firing one inspector general, sidelining another and assailing a third, President Donald Trump in recent days has put his aversion to agents of federal accountability on stark display in a country consumed by the coronavirus.

Clearly displeased when inspectors general come to independent conclusions that don't fit the stories he tells, Trump employs a tactic to mar their credibility. If public servants worked for the government in the Obama era, they are subject to being painted as Obama loyalists out to get him.

And they're not insulated if they worked for Republican presidents, too, as the three targeted IGs found out.

With concerns raised about the safety of voting in a pandemic including the November general election, Trump spread falsehoods about the extent of mail-in voting fraud.

A look at the president's recent distortions on key elements of the pandemic response and a few other political subjects:

Announcing his decision to remove Glenn Fine, acting Defence Department inspector general who was tapped to lead a special oversight board of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, Trump had said, “Well, we have IGs in from the Obama era."

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However, Fine is not a creature of the Obama era. He is a career government official who had served both Republican and Democratic administrations and was selected by his peers for the virus oversight board. Trump distorts that record to make Fine and other public servants look like plants or holdovers from President Barack Obama.

Fine has been acting Pentagon inspector general for more than four years, and before that was inspector general at the Justice Department for a decade, including the entire duration of the George W. Bush administration. He now reverts to the position of principal deputy inspector general at the Pentagon.

Though inspectors general are presidential appointees, many serve presidents of both parties. All are expected to be nonpartisan. They operate as independent investigators in departments, shedding light on deficiencies in their agencies.

On a report from the Health and Human Services Department's watchdog that found hospitals faced severe shortages of coronavirus test supplies, Trump had said, “Did I hear the word inspector general? Really? It's wrong... Could politics be entered into that?”

Referring to the HHS report, he tweeted, “Another Fake Dossier!”

However, Trump's claims are groundless. There is no evidence that the report was “wrong” or politically motivated. Again, he insinuates that a longtime civil servant is an Obama loyalist out to get him.

The inspector general in charge of the report is a government employee whose tenure predates the Obama administration.

The report was based on a survey of 323 hospitals around the country in late March and reported conditions they described. It did not make any judgments about the federal health department or the Trump administration.

With coronavirus cases rocketing toward their expected peak, the inspector general's office reported that a shortage of tests and long waits for results were at the root of mounting problems faced by hospitals.

Overseeing the report was Christi A Grimm, who is acting as HHS inspector general. She is a career government manager who took over the position early this year in an interim capacity. Grimm began her career with the agency in 1999, serving both Republican and Democratic administrations.

A week ago Trump fired Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community inspector general who forwarded to Congress a whistleblower complaint that ultimately led to the president's impeachment in the House.

His career at the Justice Department dated back to the early Bush administration, and it was Trump who nominated him as inspector general for intelligence.

Trump had tweeted, “Mail in ballots substantially increases the risk of crime and VOTER FRAUD!” "Mail ballots — they cheat. OK? People cheat. Mail ballots are a very dangerous thing for this country because they're cheaters. They go and collect them. They're fraudulent in many cases.”

But the fact is that voting fraud is rare. Trump's push for in-person voting in a pandemic, such as in Wisconsin last week, also contradicts the guidance of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and his task force's social distancing guidelines, which urge Americans to maintain 6 feet (1.8 meters) of separation and avoid crowds of over 10 people.

The CDC specifically recommends states “encourage mail-in methods of voting if allowed in the jurisdiction" given the coronavirus threat. Late last week, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services said it was monitoring the potential spread of the virus during Tuesday's voting.

It's true that some election studies have shown a slightly higher incidence of mail-in voting fraud compared with in-person voting, but the overall risk is extremely low. The Brennan Center for Justice said in 2017 the risk of voting fraud is 0.00004% to 0.0009%.