Pandemic watchdog blasts Treasury for blocking COVID relief fraud investigations

A bureaucratic turf battle between the Treasury Department and a government watchdog named by President Trump could be giving free rein to scammers sucking cash out of federal COVID-19 relief programs.

Brian Miller, the Trump-appointed Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery, complained in a new report that the Treasury Department is thwarting his investigations into COVID-relief fraud and “double dipping” — and that the Department of Justice has backed the block. “The consequence is permanently reduced oversight” of the $2.2 trillion of pandemic relief spending that Congress approved in 2020, along with the $1.9 trillion of additional funds authorized by President Joe Biden this year, Miller wrote Friday.