Pentagon Watchdog to Review Border-Wall Contract Awarded to Company Repeatedly Praised by Trump

Following a request from Democratic lawmakers, the Pentagon’s watchdog will audit a recent Army Corps of Engineers decision to award a $400 million border-wall contract to a North Dakota company that was repeatedly praised by President Trump.

According to NBC News, which reviewed a copy of the letter sent from the Department of Defense (DoD) inspector general to the House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.), the audit has been initiated and will be formally announced soon.

Thompson sent a letter to the DoD on December 4 requesting an audit over “concerns about the possibility of inappropriate influence.” On December 2, the DoD announced that North-Dakota-based firm Fisher Sand and Gravel won the $400 million contract to build a 31-mile wall in Arizona’s Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge over the next year.