Race to White House: Official Apologizes for Claiming US Scientists Hurt Trump

A Trump health official who is accused of trying to muzzle a major scientific publication amid the coronavirus pandemic apologized Tuesday for a separate video in which he reportedly says scientists fighting the virus are conspiring. against President Donald Trump and warns of shooting in the United States. if Trump loses the election.

Michael Caputo, the chief spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, apologized to his staff for the Facebook video, said an administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

The department has backed Caputo so far in the face of calls from Congressional Democrats for his removal and the resignation of his boss, HHS Secretary Alex Azar. But Caputo, a Trump loyalist and former New York political operative, has emerged as a major new problem for a White House that has struggled all year with its response to the coronavirus.

He can be heard on an HHS podcast stating that Democrats don’t want a coronavirus vaccine before the election to punish Trump. Although Trump has made the same claim, with no supporting evidence, such volleys are not in the normal portfolio of a department spokesperson.

News reports alleged last week that Caputo’s office tried to take over and gag off a scientific weekly from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that publishes what is supposed to be authoritative and unadorned information about efforts to combat it. diseases, including, most importantly today, Covid. -19.

Then on Monday an account of the video appeared on Caputo’s personal Facebook page in which he accused government scientists of conspiring against Trump and suggested violence could erupt after the election.

Caputo was named HHS chief spokesperson in April, during a tense period in relations between the White House and HHS Secretary Alex Azar.

In a taxpayer-funded podcast earlier this summer, he accused Democrats and the media of not wanting a coronavirus vaccine until after the election to defeat Trump.

“There are people in the US government on the side of the Democrats … (who) don’t want a vaccine,” he said.

“They don’t want a vaccine until November 4,” he added, citing the day after the presidential election. It is highly unusual to use an agency’s communications platform for such a blatantly political message.

Over the weekend, Caputo made headlines when Politico and the New York Times reported that his office had tried to gain control of a CDC publication known as MMWR, or Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. In previous administrations, the appointed politicians in the HHS secretary’s office maintained a policy of hands-off.

The story took a strange turn on Monday, after the Times reported a live video featured by Caputo on his personal Facebook page. In it, Caputo allegedly accused government scientists of conspiring against Trump as part of a “resistance.”

The message turned apocalyptic when Caputo allegedly predicted that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden would refuse to admit defeat to Trump in the election and violence would break out. The Associated Press was unable to independently view the video.

HHS supported Caputo, with a statement calling it a “critical and integral part of the president’s response to the coronavirus, leading the public messaging as Americans need public health information to defeat the Covid-19 pandemic.”

There was no immediate statement from the White House.

Attempts to interview Caputo were unsuccessful.

On Capitol Hill, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, Washington, called on Azar to fire Caputo, accusing the spokesperson of trying to interfere with CDC reports. And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrats, New York, called on Azar himself to resign, citing interference with the CDC as an example of what he called administration failures.

CDC officials have privately complained about recent efforts by politician appointees at HHS to attempt to edit or lobby for changes in the agency’s weekly MMWR publications, a resource for health professionals. public.

MMWR articles are technical, but reveal revealing details. One published earlier this year noted that while Trump’s travel restrictions dramatically reduced travel from China in February, nothing was being done at the time to restrict travel from Italy and Europe, where the coronavirus was spreading widely. and quickly. Analysis of virus samples from New York in March suggested it was introduced there from Europe and other parts of the US, the CDC article reported.

Caputo is an unwavering Trump loyalist. His recent book, The Ukraine Hoax, claims that the president’s “bogus” accusation has its roots in a vast conspiracy.

His appointment to HHS was seen as an attempt by the White House to exert more control over Azar, whom other administration officials were trying to blame for the government’s slow response in the first weeks of the pandemic.

At HHS, he has been closely affiliated with Operation Warp Speed, the government’s effort to have millions of doses of a Covid-19 vaccine ready for distribution as soon as the Food and Drug Administration approves one.

Caputo interviewed Dr. Moncef Slaoui, one of the main external advisers to the vaccine effort, on an HHS podcast on July 31. Sympathizing with Slaoui for the Democrats and news articles criticizing the doctor, Caputo said:

“I know it’s hard to believe, but the people who are abusing you and who are defeating Operation Warp Speed, and the incredible historical work that is going on, they don’t want a vaccine until November 4. I don’t want to talk politics. here, but November 3 is an important day. They don’t want a vaccine now because of politics, sir. “

– AP