House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Tuesday slammed President Donald Trump's decision to remove an independent watchdog assigned to oversee coronavirus emergency funds, accusing the president of "taking action to undermine the oversight of the legislation."
"The president thinks he should be the only one (to oversee the fund) and that's exactly upside-down," Pelosi told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "It’s not geared to the President. It is geared to how the program is implemented, and where there’s money, there’ll always…be some skulduggery."
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump removed acting Defense Department inspector general Glenn Fine, a veteran watchdog who had been selected by peers as a chairman for a special oversight board for the $2.2 trillion economic package approved to help those affected by the coronavirus epidemic.
Democrats in Congress had demanded oversight of the huge sums of money being pumped into the American economy because of the virus.
"The president is sending in some of his loyalists," said Pelosi. "This is really a problem. We should try to follow the Truman model which I have established."
She explained that the model is named for late President Harry Truman, who, while a senator called for an investigative committee to investigate spending during World War II to ensure there was no price gouging.
"That's what we want to have in the community," Pelosi told Cooper.
Pelosi did praise the $2 trillion bipartisan package that was passed in March, but said she doesn't believe $1,200 direct payments is enough money to help Americans rebound financially from the coronavirus shutdowns.
"We think that there’s a path to getting more for the direct payments for the American people,” Pelosi said.