Trump accuses U.S. Health Department watchdog of 'fake dossier' on coronavirus
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused the U.S. Health Department's inspector general of having produced a "fake dossier" on American hospitals suffering shortages on the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak.
The president, taking aim at yet another federal agency watchdog, did not provide any reason for questioning the health department inspector general's report on critical shortages.
The findings confirmed what governors, mayors and local health officials have been saying for weeks: that hospitals nationwide had insufficient capacity to handle the surge of coronavirus patients.
But Trump suggested the inspector general was politically motivated and asked why she had not spoken to admirals, generals, the vice president or others in charge before doing the report.
"Another Fake Dossier," he wrote on Twitter.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services's Office of the Inspector General is led by Christi Grimm, the principal deputy inspector general, who has served in the office since 1999.
The office did not return a request for comment on Trump's tweet.
Trump's criticism came less than a week after he notified Congress on Friday he was firing the inspector general of the U.S. intelligence community, who was involved in triggering an impeachment probe of the Republican president last year.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Tom Brown)
