Dan Diamond Profile picture
Apr 9, 2021 9 tweets 6 min read Read on X
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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More from @ddiamond

Apr 23
Since the fall of Roe, hospitals have been turning away pregnant women who needed emergency abortions.

Now the Supreme Court will decide if the Biden admin has the power to penalize those hospitals.

Our primer on the case. With @amarimow @CAKitchener.

washingtonpost.com/health/2024/04…
One example we found:

A pregnant woman arrived at a Florida hospital in Dec. 2022, five days after her water broke, pleading for treatment. She was sent home.

Federal officials concluded that the hospital put her life at risk.

Read the investigation: documentcloud.org/documents/2457…
Federal officials also warned that the Florida hospital — Memorial Regional — could be kicked out of Medicare for its failure to provide emergency treatment.

(Losing Medicare $$ would be a huge financial blow.)

Read the letter to the hospital CEO here: documentcloud.org/documents/2457…
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Read 5 tweets
Mar 10
I finally saw “Oppenheimer” and got so curious about Robert Downey Jr’s character — Lewis Strauss.

Who was this guy, really? I write about DC — why hadn’t I ever heard of his famous Senate hearing?

It sent me down what became a rabbit hole of Washington politics. Spoilers, obv.
I first started a couple weeks ago with (what I thought) was a simple question: could I find the room where Strauss faced his Senate panel?

I just wanted to stop by and see the real thing.

And it's clear from the hearing transcript where it really took place. But one problem... Image
“Room 5110, New Senate Office Building” is a combo that doesn’t exist anymore.

The building became Dirksen, so that was easy. But there are no four-digit room numbers.

And when I walked Dirksen’s halls and knocked on doors, folks were baffled. Then one made a suggestion… Image
Read 16 tweets
Jul 29, 2023
For two decades, PEPFAR has saved millions of lives around the world.

Now the HIV program faces a new threat: US abortion politics, mystifying and worrying global partners.

“Taking funding away… means death,” one HIV leader in Uganda told The Post.

washingtonpost.com/health/2023/07…
How did abortion ensare PEPFAR?

It started with Rep. CHRIS SMITH, a longtime PEPFAR champion who now claims its funds help support abortion abroad.

In a one-hour interview in his office yesterday, Smith said the global abortion fight took precedence over re-authorizing PEPFAR.
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The congressman’s claims have been embraced by antiabortion advocates, but denied by the Biden administration and condemned by HIV advocates and other lawmakers.

“It’s just dumbfounding,” said Children’s AIDS Fund co-founder.

“Absolute misinformation,” said @SenatorMenendez.
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Read 5 tweets
Mar 13, 2023
Are you feeling groggy from “Spring Forward”?

Senators last year passed a bill that would've ended our clock changes… but it died in the House.

Now Congress is trying again.

I’ve been covering this debate for a year. Here’s what I’ve learned. (Thread)

wapo.st/3ZDsq5w
Americans have fought over time rules for most of our history.

First there was “sun time,” based on its position in the sky.

Then the railroads created our regional time zones. (Sparking conspiracies about “railroad time”…)

Finally Congress formalized time zones during WW1.
Congress has repeatedly adjusted U.S. time rules, including a 1973 law for permanent daylight time — which backfired and was quickly repealed

But Congress also succeeded at gradually lengthening daylight time in 1985 and 2005.

Now some lawmakers want to try permanent DST again.
Read 10 tweets
Dec 16, 2022
“Permanently suspended” user Matt Binder has found a loophole: he can talk (and is talking!) on this Twitter space, right now.

twitter.com/i/spaces/1yNxa…
Interesting conversation from media figures on Twitter’s sudden evolution

“Many of us on this chat have been in situations where people have posted pictures in real-time,” says @brianstelter - but unlike them, Musk has power to decide what’s a threat now

twitter.com/i/spaces/1yNxa…
Suspended colleague @drewharwell also is live (!) and chiming in “from beyond the grave.”

Drew: “This is an extremely weird experience because half of Twitter works and half of it doesn't … it's altogether not that different from a typical Twitter day.”

twitter.com/i/spaces/1yNxa…
Read 4 tweets
Dec 3, 2022
increasingly convinced that most writers I haven’t met are actually sentient AIs
Bad news: I am also AI
this tool is too powerful for mortal men to control
Read 4 tweets

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