“Today, the Department of Health and Human Services announces that HHS Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs Michael Caputo has decided to take time off to focus on his health and the well-being of his family. Mr. Caputo will be on vacation for the next 60 days, ”HHS said in a statement.
The temporary departure is prompted by growing concern from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the alleged attempts, and in particular Caputo’s role, in politicizing a critical health agency in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement, Caputo said he was going to undergo “the necessary tests for a lymphatic problem discovered last week.”
In video received and edited in length
Yahoo NewsCaputo, a fierce defender of Trump who was appointed to the department earlier this year by the president, can be heard harshly criticizing CDC staff.
“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.
One federal health official cited several examples of political interference from HHS officials in the past four months, including
CDC Testing Guidelines and a few instances where the manual on the CDC website was changed without notice. The official pointed to an incident in July where an “introductory comment” was posted on the official CDC public health guide to safely opening schools.
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.
Sarah Murray, Jim Acosta, Kevin Bon, and Caitlan Collins of CNN contributed to this report.
