Trump criticized for name on emergency aid checks

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More than 70 million Americans are waiting for the check for $ 1,200 promised by the federal administration, an allowance voted for in late March by Congress as part of the law to save the economy. Checks could be delayed by a request from the President, who wants his name on it.

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Treasury have until Thursday to print more than 70 million checks to help American families mired in the crisis . But this Tuesday, the technical services of the ministry had to reconfigure their computer system to integrate the name of Donald Trump on the checks.

It is the first time that an American president made such a request, reports our correspondent in Washington, Anne Corpet . His name will be written on the side, alongside the amount allocated. According to the Washington Post , Donald Trump originally wanted his signature to appear, but this is not allowed by U.S. Treasury rules.

The president's request could, according to the press, lead to additional delays in the payment of the promised sums. " This delay affecting vulnerable families is yet another shameful example of the catastrophic way in which Donald Trump is dealing with an urgent crisis ," tweeted Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the Democratic majority in the chamber. The Treasury Department denies that adding the name of the president will have the least impact on the beneficiaries.

Delaying direct payments to vulnerable families just to print his name on the check is another shameful example of President Trump's catastrophic failure to treat this crisis with the urgency it demands.

"I'm sure people will be very happy to receive a big, nice, fat check"

Other Democrat parliamentarians and Internet users have also sharply criticized the American president on social networks, accusing him of wanting to play politics with this help since he is playing for his re-election in November .

" I do not know much about it but I understood that my name was there ," reacted Donald Trump, asked about the controversy during his daily press conference on the pandemic. " I understood that this was not going to delay anything and I am happy with it, " he added. I don't imagine it could be a big problem, I'm sure people will be very happy to receive a big, nice, fat check, and my name is on it. "

Donald Trump has also promised to deliver his roadmap for the gradual restart of the US economy, which has been knocked down by the coronavirus, on Thursday and affirmed that the United States, the country most affected by the pandemic , saw tangible signs of its slowdown.

His country, however, recorded a new morbid record on Wednesday: 2,569 people died in 24 hours, the heaviest daily toll recorded by a country, according to the reference count of Johns Hopkins University.

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