(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/01/us/politics/trump-health-department-watchdog.html)

WASHINGTON — President Trump moved on Friday night to replace a top official at the Department of Health and Human Services who angered him with a report last month highlighting supply shortages and testing delays at hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic.

The White House waited until after business hours to announce the nomination of a new inspector general for the department who, if confirmed, would take over for Christi A. Grimm, the principal deputy inspector general who was publicly assailed by the president at a news briefing three weeks ago.

The nomination was the latest effort by Mr. Trump against watchdog offices around his administration that have defied him. In recent weeks, he fired an inspector general involved in the inquiry that led to the president's impeachment, nominated a White House aide to another key inspector general post overseeing virus relief spending and moved to block still another inspector general from taking over as chairman of a pandemic spending oversight panel.

Mr. Trump has sought to assert more authority over his administration and clear out officials deemed insufficiently loyal in the three months since his Senate impeachment trial on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress ended in acquittal largely along party lines. While inspectors general are appointed by the president, they are meant to be semiautonomous watchdogs ferreting out waste, fraud and corruption in executive agencies.

The purge has continued unabated even during the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed about 65,000 lives in the United States. Ms. Grimm's case in effect merged the conflict over Mr. Trump's response to the outbreak with his determination to sweep out those he perceives to be speaking out against him.

Her report, released last month and based on extensive interviews with hospitals around the country, identified critical shortages of supplies, revealing that hundreds of medical centers were struggling to obtain test kits, protective gear for staff members and ventilators. Mr. Trump was embarrassed by the report at a time he was already under fire for playing down the threat of the virus and not acting quickly enough to ramp up testing and provide equipment to doctors and nurses.
[...]

Looks like we've got another Zimmerman style case brewing here in Georgia with the Ahmaud shooting. Given its proximity to the election, I expect this one will end up being even more political.

At least this time there's video. Not that it matters.

(https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/14/trump-world-richard-burr-investigation-259740)

Donald Trump's allies don't much like Richard Burr. But they'd prefer the president keep out of the criminal investigation of the senator.

The revelation that Burr was under FBI investigation for potential insider trading rocked Capitol Hill on Thursday. But Trump, who often relishes commenting on the news of the day, was restrained when asked about the situation. And, if anything, his broader circle of family and friends was sharply critical of North Carolina Republican.

The reasoning, according to five Republicans close to the White House, is mainly political: Burr's home state of North Carolina is crucial to the Trump's electoral prospects in November. It's a key state Trump hopes to win again and the Republican Party is planning to hold its nominating convention there in August. Additionally, North Carolina's other senator, Republican Thom Tillis, faces a tough reelection that is critical for retaining GOP control of the Senate.

“He'll stay out of it,” a former Trump adviser predicted. “Getting involved could hurt him politically.”

Yet Burr has also never been popular in Trump's circles. Trump allies are angry that Burr, as Senate Intelligence Committee chair, oversaw his panel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Last year, he issued a subpoena to the president's oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., even after special counsel Robert Mueller completed his own Russian election meddling report. Later, Burr also authorized the release of a committee report that affirmed the intelligence community's findings that Russia intended to help Trump win with its meddling.

“Wanting his kids to testify was a red line," said another Republican close to the White House.

The anger spilled over Thursday.

"Now I hope we see some action," Trump Jr. tweeted in response to a tweet about Burr's announcement that he will step down as chairman of the influential intelligence panel while under investigation for stock trades he made just before the market collapsed amid the coronavirus pandemic.

[...]

“As chairman of Senate Intel, Richard Burr ran interference for the corrupt intelligence and law enforcement bureaucracy behind the attempted coup against Trump,” tweeted Sean Davis, co-founder of the conservative Federalist website. “With the FBI raid of his home and seizure of his phone, I wonder if Burr regrets his refusal to do actual oversight.”
[...]