2LT International News

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. President Donald Trump wants to have his name and signature on the $1,200 checks the Federal Government is sending to seventy million Americans as a stimulus measure to offset the economic damage done by the by Covid-19 pandemic.

According to a report in The Washington Post, quoting three administration officials, Mr Trump told Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin he wanted to sign the checks.

Mr Trump however is not an authorized signatory of the Federal Government’s banking infrastructure, and in any event a treasury protocol prevents any president from signing government checks, to avoid politicization.

Mnuchin notwithstanding has agreed the president’s name ‘President Donald J. Trump’ will be printed on all checks – expected to be issued at the rate of 5 million a week, for up to twenty weeks. Mr. Trump’s name will appear on the left hand side of the checks, under the words ‘Economic Impact Payment.’

There has been some speculation the adding of Mr Trump’s names to the checks will delay them being sent out. However this has been denied by Mnuchin’s department.

“Economic Impact Payment checks are scheduled to go out on time and exactly as planned, there is absolutely no delay whatsoever,” the Treasury spokesperson told the Post.

(File photo).