Trump is determined to hide what he’s doing with all that money.

The Trump administration’s intensifying efforts to block oversight of its coronavirus-related rescue programs are raising new alarms with government watchdogs and lawmakers from both parties amid concerns about the anonymity of companies receiving unprecedented levels of taxpayer funds.

Government watchdogs warned members of Congress last week that previously unknown Trump administration legal decisions could substantially block their ability to oversee more than $1 trillion in spending related to the coronavirus pandemic.

A TRILLION.

In a letter to four congressional committee chairs Thursday, two officials in charge of a new government watchdog entity revealed that the Trump administration had issued legal rulings curtailing independent oversight of Cares Act funding.

How does the Trump administration get to issue unilateral “legal rulings”? They’re not the Supreme Court. Can Trump issue a “legal ruling” that everyone in the country has to give him all their money and possessions?

The letter surfaced amid growing bipartisan outrage over the administration’s decision not to disclose how it is spending hundreds of billions in aid for businesses.

It’s pissing off even the Republicans, so it must be really bad.

According to the previously undisclosed letter, Treasury Department attorneys concluded that the administration is not required to provide the watchdogs with information about the beneficiaries of programs created by the Cares Act’s “Division A.” That section includes some of the most controversial and expensive programs in the coronavirus response efforts, including the administration’s massive bailout for small businesses and nearly $500 billion in loans for corporations.

Run along now watchdogs, go play with your chew toys.

Mnuchin surprised many lawmakers last week when he announced he would not allow the names of Paycheck Protection Program recipients to become public after the Trump administration had said for months that the data would eventually be disclosed.

I’m thinking “surprised” is probably not the most exact word for the lawmakers’ reaction.

Basically Trump and his enforcers think Congress gave them a trillion dollars to play with and that they don’t have to tell anyone a damn thing about what they’re doing with it. That would be a pretty strange way of conducting government.