I’ve reported since last year on Trump officials’ efforts to change CDC scientific reports to better align with Trump’s own claims on coronavirus.
Today’s @COVIDOversight release fills in some timeline gaps, and I wanted to flag some key moments in a short thread.
1. Even in covid early days, Trump officials leaned on government experts to change their language and findings.
Trump in April installing longtime ally MICHAEL CAPUTO to oversee HHS comms ramped up those efforts. (Caputo recruited friend PAUL ALEXANDER as a scientific adviser.)
2. Across the summer, Caputo, Alexander and others battled with top doctors, which reporters began to reveal.
@bylenasun @jdawsey1 detailed how Alexander berated then-CDC director Redfield; @owermohle showed Alexander trying to muzzle Fauci from talking about kids’ covid risks.
3. But one major irritant for Trump officials: the CDC’s flagship Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports, which had been off-limits to political appointees for decades.
Alexander demanded editing control in this Aug 8 email first obtained by POLITICO: politico.com/f/?id=00000176…
4. After weeks of demanding edits, Alexander on Sept. 9 detailed to Caputo examples of changes that he claimed he’d been able to get the CDC to make to the MMWRs, per new documents released today.
(One change prompted Alexander’s “yippee!!!” comment.)
5. Two days later, on Sept. 11, POLITICO first reported Alexander and Caputo’s meddling with CDC reports.
Public health groups quickly sounded alarms, noting that the reports were intended to provide scientific findings and inform the covid response.
politico.com/news/2020/09/1…
6. But the media attention didn’t stop Alexander; by Sept. 13, he was calling for changes to another CDC report on how kids could get covid at child-care facilities and spread to others.
(Alexander argued that parents instead got sick when they picked kids up from school.)
7. The issue quickly came to a head: @COVIDOversight on Sept. 14 opened a probe into Trump officials’ interference in CDC reports, and Caputo took medical leave on Sept. 16.
HHS also announced that Alexander was “permanently” departing as well. politico.com/news/2020/09/1…
8. Today, there are still questions about the extent of political interference.
Former CDC chief Redfield — who claimed last year the reports were protected — recently alleged to @drsanjaygupta that former HHS leaders like Azar had tried to change them too. (Azar denies it.)
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