Keith Olbermann explains how Donald Trump's policies can even hurt your pet

Keith Olbermann has been a frequent and outspoken critic of President Donald Trump -- that's no secret -- but his latest warning could affect your most vulnerable loved ones.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) removed public access last week to data tracking animal abuse under the federal Animal Welfare Act and Hose Protection Act -- which the agency says was done to protect individual privacy rights -- but Olbermann said it could end up hurting pets and other animals.

Olbermann became an animal lover as an adult, having grown up in an allergic household, and he credits his first dog with awakening his soul.

"If you have ever loved an animal, you know," he said. "You could have been one of the people I called up after I was born again, to whom I said, 'Why didn't you tell me that dogs are one of the meanings of life?'"

The Humane Society says it used the data to track puppy mills and other animal abusers, but now those reports must come through Freedom of Information Act requests -- which Olbermann said can take years.

"This is about dogs and cats and horses and Trump," Olbermann said. "The bottom line is, we asked the Trump campaign last September whether he had ever had a dog or a cat. They had said at the time they had no evidence that he had ever had. One of the co-authors of one of his books told me he never remembered hearing Trump so much as mention having a pet as a kid or as an adult."

The data removal poses risk to all Americans' pets, Olbermann said.

The Trump campaign briefly floated a proposal to roll back food safety regulations, complaining that the Food and Drug Administration even policed dog food.

"But that costs money and hurts the pet food companies' profits, and the pet food companies' money is now more important than whether your dog lives or dies," Olbermann said.