Respirator masks at a factory. Hundreds of thousands of such...

Respirator masks at a factory. Hundreds of thousands of such masks supplied by a contractor owned by former Trump aide Zach Fuentes may be unsuitable for medical use, authorities say. Credit: AP / Fernando Llano

President Donald Trump's former deputy chief of staff struck an interesting deal with the Indian Health Service, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. The ex-aide, Zach Fuentes, won a $3 million contract with the agency — only 11 days after he created a company to sell personal protective equipment in response to the coronavirus pandemic, ProPublica reports.

Fuentes, who left the White House in January 2019, had no federal contracting experience, according to the investigative news site. The IHS says 247,000 of the respirator masks the company supplied for Navajo Nation hospitals in New Mexico and Arizona may be unsuitable for medical use.

Was it a sweetheart deal? “Nobody referred me from the White House. It was nothing like that,” Fuentes told ProPublica. “Emphatically no.”

Integrity issues are festering at the White House. Trump has been purging inspectors general, the quasi-independent monitors assigned to police executive agencies. This shake-up has affected the Pentagon, the State Department and HHS, as well as the committee created by Congress to oversee huge federal pandemic handouts.

A massive rush of federal spending can only make federal programs more vulnerable to grifters and schemers.

That doesn't seem to concern Trump. Well before the pandemic, he defied and downplayed investigations of his administration's conduct, both internal and external. Throughout the Russia scandal and his impeachment trial, the president launched wanton verbal attacks and tweets against by-the-book government professionals performing due diligence.

In a similar vein, Trump's administration has undermined actions by federal law enforcement agencies by intervening in certain criminal cases.

Ford executive chairman William Clay Ford Jr. with President Donald...

Ford executive chairman William Clay Ford Jr. with President Donald Trump at a Ford plant Thursday in Ypsilanti, Mich. Credit: AFP via Getty Images / Brendan Smialowski

On Thursday, Rod Blagojevich, the convicted former Democratic governor of Illinois whose corruption sentence was cut short by Trump, urged the president to pardon Republican dirty-tricks operative Roger Stone, whose conviction is tied to the 2016 campaign.

“Roger Stone is a victim of a political persecution. As an act of justice and mercy, please, Mister President, pardon Roger Stone,” Blagojevich said in a video statement.

The "turn-’em-loose" movement for Trump loyalists includes former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who admitted lying to the FBI and awaited sentencing.

The Trump administration is trying to nullify the conviction. Last week, federal judge Emmet Sullivan even saw fit to hire a high-profile trial lawyer to defend his inquiry into whether the Justice Department's effort to drop the case is legally or ethically appropriate.

Glimmers of cozy dealings for Trump & Co. began early in Trump's term, after he refused to divest himself from his business or disclose his tax returns. Ryan Zinke was ousted as interior secretary amid suspicions of using his office for personal gain. Scott Pruitt departed as Trump's environmental administrator under fire for alleged self-dealing and conflicts of interest. Trump's first HHS secretary, Tom Price, was cited for $341,000 in wasteful expenditures, including personal travel, before being ousted after seven months in office.

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao gave interviews to Chinese media that helped raise the public profile of her international shipping-magnate father. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had disclosure problems regarding his sprawling investments. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is now drawing heat for arranging the dismissal of an inspector general who was examining his swank State Department dinners with political donors.

So it came as no surprise over the weekend that the nightly rates for Trump's Washington hotel have been ratcheted up for the Fourth of July weekend, during which the president said he'll host an Independence Day bash in the National Mall.

Social distancing for citizens has largely caught on. Financial distancing for the Trump team, not so much.

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