“The analysis (U.S. House of Representatives) demonstrates that over the last eight months, the Administration engaged in a persistent pattern of political interference—repeatedly overruling and sidelining top scientists and undermining Americans’ health to advance the President’s partisan agenda.
“These incidents have impacted every major facet of the Administration’s public health response.”
– “Select Subcommittee Analysis Shows Pattern Of Political Interference By The Trump Administration In Coronavirus Response,” Press Release on October 02, 2020
In October, a coronavirus-crisis sub-committee within the US House of Representatives released a report documenting 47 instances in which government scientists had been sidelined or their recommendations altered. And the report notes that the frequency of meddling had been increasing in the lead-up to the US election.
The select subcommittee reports the Trump administration …
· Pressured health experts to adopt the Administration’s talking points, even when they conflict with the science;
· Criticized, sidelined, and fired experts who insisted on sharing accurate scientific information with the public;
· Altered, delayed, and suppressed guidance and scientific reports on testing, protecting children, reopening schools, voting safely, and other topics;
· Authorized questionable virus treatments over the objections of scientists;
· Resisted efforts to ensure the safe development of a vaccine; and
· Diverted $265 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration for an ad campaign to “defeat despair and inspire hope” weeks before Election Day.
In late February, a top Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) infectious disease expert, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, upset the administration by speaking frankly at a news conference about the dangers of the virus when the president was still downplaying it.
Within weeks, the agency was pushed offstage as President Donald Trump and other administration officials, during daily news briefings, became the main sources of information about the U.S. epidemic and the attempts to control it.
In May, a series of leaked emails and scientific documents obtained by The AP detailed how the White House had buried CDC’s detailed guidelines for communities reopening during a still-surging pandemic. The emails revealed that the administration was vetting CDC’s science through the Office of Management and Budget, rather than relying on its medical experts on the White House coronavirus task force. The resulting news stories of the shelving of the documents angered the administration, and sparked renewed efforts to exert control over CDC, according to current and former officials.
In October, the Trump White House installed two political operatives at the nation’s top public health agency to try to control the information it released about the coronavirus pandemic as the administration seeks to paint a positive outlook, sometimes at odds with the scientific evidence.
The two appointees assigned to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Atlanta headquarters in June had no public health background. They were installed to keep an eye on Dr. Robert Redfield, the agency director, as well as scientists, according to a half-dozen CDC and administration officials who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal government affairs.
When the two appointees showed up in Atlanta, their roles were a mystery to senior CDC staff, the people said. They had not even been assigned offices. Eventually one, Nina Witkofsky, became acting chief of staff, an influential role as Redfield’s right hand. The other, her deputy Chester “Trey” Moeller, also began sitting in on scientific meetings, the sources said.
“I don’t trust the (political appointees) that they’ve dropped into the CDC,” said Dr. Rick Bright, a federal vaccine expert who filed a whistleblower complaint alleging he was reassigned to a lesser job because he resisted political pressure to allow widespread use of hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug pushed by Trump as a COVID-19 treatment. Bright said CDC scientists should be the face of the federal response, as has been the tradition, and the absence of their counsel to the public has contributed to confusion.
Bright said …
“That is absolutely frightening. (It) leads to the mixed signals to the public. And I think that is increasing the magnitude and duration of this entire pandemic.”
(“White House has two appointees controlling CDC messaging, AP sources say.” CBS News. October 16, 2020.)
In April, Bright, who specializes in vaccine development, was ousted from his position as head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to what he described as a "less impactful position," after he raised concerns that top federal officials were mishandling the U.S outbreak. Bright resigned the first week of October from his post at the National Institutes of Health, saying his superiors had ignored a national coronavirus testing strategy he’d developed.
(Jason Dearen, Mike Stobbe and Richard Lardner. “White House puts ‘politicals’ at CDC to try to control info.” Associated Press News. October 16, 2020.)
The American public needs to know the truth – the Trump administration has repeatedly interfered with the CDC’s work, hindering its ability to respond to the ongoing pandemic. This concerted attempt by Trump and his people to mask the true scope of the epidemic supports the fact that the Trump administration has failed in its response to the coronavirus.
At the core of Trump and his administration’s complaints about the CDC is a concerted effort to make it appear as though America is quickly returning to normal. Trump even admitted to this in an interview with journalist Bob Woodward: “I wanted to always play [the coronavirus] down,” Trump said on March 19. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
(Kevin Freking and Zeke Miller. “Book: Trump said of virus, ‘I wanted to always play it down.’” Associated Press News. September 9, 2020.)
"The President got bored with it," Dave Carney, a longtime Republican strategist who advises Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, told The New York Times. Like a child grown tired of playing with his favorite toy, Trump has given up on fighting the virus. He doesn't want to admit to his mishandling of the situation – he never admits to being wrong – and instead he chooses to ignore the rising cases and deaths piling up under his failed administration.
“Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away. I hope that’s true. But we’re doing great in our country. China, I spoke with President Xi, and they’re working very, very hard. And I think it’s going to all work out fine.”
– Trump at a campaign rally in Manchester, N.H. (February 10, 2020)
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