“These people cannot, cannot let America get better. They also can’t let America hear the good news. From now until the election, everything should be bad news. Honestly, ladies and gentlemen, this is sedition, “Caputo said during a rant: which was broadcast live from his personal Facebook page on Sunday.

“They sacrifice their lives to defeat Donald Trump. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a mutiny. It’s also … you know, call it what you want, but when they let someone get sick and die, there is one word for it, ”he said.

Caputo also said that “guerrilla Democrats, spousal media and scientists, Deep State scholars want America to get sick before November. They cannot allow us to receive any good news before November because they are already losing. “

A source familiar with the matter said Caputo presented himself as a victim in his apology on Tuesday, but apologized for putting HHS secretary Alex Azar in a bad light.

In a statement on Wednesday, Caputo praised members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and reaffirmed the overall mission of working to combat the coronavirus. He highlighted Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whose warnings have often been denied or downplayed by the Trump administration.

“I have learned a lot from friendships with doctors from the President’s Coronavirus Task Force. Sometimes we disagree, but we work together to defeat the virus and we care about each other, ”Caputo said. “I want to thank Dr. Tony Fauci for consulting my personal physician, as we are getting the medical care that I needed for so long but still went unaddressed during the pandemic.”

2 federal health officials declare intervention

Shortly after Caputo was named assistant minister of public affairs at HHS, CDC executives began to notice attempts at political interference with academic guidelines and reports, two agency sources told CNN.

Beginning in May, CDC officials were asked to send “free copies” of weekly morbidity and mortality reports, a long-standing CDC scientific report known as MMWR, the two officials said.

MMWR reports are regarded as the gold standard for CDC’s leading public health work. Prior to Caputo’s rise to power, officials said no one outside the CDC – not even the HHS, which oversees the CDC – had checked the MMWR prior to their publication.

Caputo did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on the matter on Wednesday.

The first official told CNN that Caputo instructed his adviser Paul Alexander to pass the Trump administration’s proposals to the CDC, but CDC executives wondered if Alexander or Caputo really “understood the science” in the reports.

Two officials assured CNN that ultimately the scientific evidence for the “sacred” MMWRs issued by the CDC was not compromised after Alexander’s attempts to “weigh and offer recommendations.”

Caputo defended Alexander in a statement to CNN on Saturday, saying his assistant “is an Oxford-trained epidemiologist and methodologist specializing in analyzing the work of other scientists.” He added that “Alexander’s advice is heard and accepted or rejected by his colleagues.”

HHS announced in its Caputo leave statement that Alexander will be leaving his post in the department.

Additional reports have been added to this story.