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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has removed the lead watchdog overseeing the $2 trillion coronavirus package, just days after the official, Glenn Fine, was appointed to the role.

The move came as Trump pursued similar action in recent weeks against independent inspectors general across the federal government.

Fine had been the acting Pentagon inspector general until Monday afternoon, when Trump abruptly removed him from his post. 

“Yesterday, the President nominated Mr. Jason Abend for the position of DoD Inspector General,” said Dwrena Allen, a spokesperson for the Defense Department’s Inspector General, in a statement to CNBC.

“The same day, the President also designated Mr. Sean W. O’Donnell, who is the Environmental Protection Agency Inspector General (EPA IG), to serve as the Acting DoD IG in addition to his current duties at the EPA,” Allen said.

“Mr. Fine is no longer on the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee,” Allen said, and he now “reverts to his position as the Principal Deputy Inspector General.”

Fine had been chosen March 30 to lead the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee by his fellow inspectors general, who were tasked by the new law to select a chairman for their committee.

By removing Fine from his Pentagon job, Trump effectively eliminated Fine from the oversight committee, since only sitting inspectors general can serve on the committee.

Speaking at a press conference Tuesday evening, Trump said he had never met Fine, but suggested he was a Democratic appointee. “We have a lot of IGs from the Obama era, and I left them, largely. But when we have reports of bias, and we have different things coming in.” 

In fact, Fine was first confirmed by the Senate to be an inspector general in 2000, during the George W. Bush administration. After 11 years at the inspector general of the Justice Department, Fine returned to the private sector in 2011. In 2015, he came back to government as a deputy inspector general for the Pentagon.