Former US president Donald Trump's administration prevented health officials from providing accurate information about COVID-19 in a bid to back up his overly optimistic view of the outbreak, according to a congressional report released Monday.
Senior staff at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told investigators Trump aides bullied staff and tried to rewrite their reports in a bid to align guidance with the president's public downplaying of the crisis. FILE PHOTO
Officials took "unprecedented steps to insert political appointees into the publication process and rebut CDC's scientific reports, including drafting op-eds and other public messaging designed to directly counteract CDC's findings," the report said. Trump appointees had sought to "alter the contents, rebut, or delay the release" of 18 MMWRs and a health alert, succeeding on at least five occasions.
"The Select Subcommittee's investigation has shown that the previous administration engaged in an unprecedented campaign of political interference in the federal government's pandemic response, which undermined public health to benefit the former president's political goals," panel chairman Jim Clyburn, a Democrat, said in a statement.