Michael Cutto: Emails show intimidation of top HHS official and Trump ally CDC official

Emails are part of a pattern of Caputo’s hostile attitude towards CDC officials. Earlier this week, Capto announced that he would take a two-month leave of absence from his post after apologizing for a conspiracy theory against CDC scientists, accusing the department of being a “resistance unit” and accusing CDC officials of “treason.” Was. ” ”

He has been accused by critics of politicizing the CDC and the HHS’s response to the coronavirus epidemic. CNN reported last week that some HHSs were trying to undermine Trump’s political message. While communications officials were pushing for a change in the language of the reports, Capt. And his team demanded that the weekly science reports be viewed outside the CDC before the release. In response to this statement, Caputo criticized the CDC with conspiracy theories.

Emails show that a CNN reporter reached out to a CDC spokesman with a question about a vaccine education program, which Dr. Anthony Foucault hinted at a CNN interview in late June. The spokesman referred the journalist to Caputo, who then decided to raise the issue.

When a CDC spokesman apologized to Caputo and said they only mentioned CNN and did not confirm the campaign, Caputo returned with another ambiguous message.

“We will discuss this on a teleconference tomorrow. I want your HR representative in attendance,” Capto said.

In a later message, he added, “I’m adding Dr. Redfield back to this email exchange. Don’t do it again.”

Asked about the incident with the CDC communications officer, a person close to the situation said, “We quickly learned his comment was inadvertent. He is a very talented communicator, and his comment does not guarantee any action.”

Democratic National Committee spokeswoman and adviser Lily Adams accused the administration of trying to pressure experts at public expense in response to emails.

Every day, Adams said, it becomes clear that Trump and his administration worked to intimidate and intimidate experts who wanted to lie to the American people and warn the country about the seriousness of the coronavirus. “At every level, the Trump administration has put the president’s personal political ideology at the forefront of the lives of thousands of Americans.”

The Times also outlined at least two other instances of CDC employees beating up a captain.

Referring to the paper in reference to HHS’s political appointee Dr. Paul L. Alexander’s June emails regarding the public remarks of CDC Deputy Director General Dr. N. Schuchtt that “we have a lot of viruses in the country” in an attempt to insult Trump. Has been. In Typoz’s report, Capto forwarded emails to Redfield, H.H.S. An example of an attempt to bully CDC employees by consultants.

The Times reported that HHS An employee of the White House liaison office contacted the CDC to inquire about Shuchat’s background – giving some CDC officials the understanding that some wanted Shuchat – who had worked at the CDC for more than three decades – to be fired.

In July, Capto demanded that CDC communications officers identify a press officer who was involved in the HHS attack. After the CDC took over the epidemic data collection, P ve approved several NPR interviews with the CDC epidemic.

“I need to know who did it,” according to emails reviewed by the Times.

“I haven’t received a response to my email for 20 hours. This is unacceptable,” Capto continued on paper. “I need this information to properly manage department communications. If you disobey my instructions, you will be held accountable.”

This is a breaking story and will be updated.