A close ally of Donald Trump, who was serving as a top official in the HHS (Department of Health and Human Services) repeatedly complained about how the CDC (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) was responding to a media request to the agency's director in a clear attempt to overawe an agency communications official. These complaints were sent via emails, which have been shared with CNN.
The emails show former HHS assistant secretary of public affairs Michael Caputo confronting a CDC spokesperson for responding to a question regarding a vaccine education campaign from CNN. "In what world did you think it was your job to announce an Administration public service announcement campaign to CNN?" Caputo told the spokesperson on June 27.
He copied top agency officials on the email including the agency's director Dr. Robert Redfield, who is appointed to spearhead America's health protection agency during these unprecedented times. The emails represent Caputo's antagonistic attitude towards the CDC officials.
Caputo announced he will be taking a two-month leave of absence from his post, following an apology for a baseless rant he made against CDC scientists, accusing the department's "resistance unit" and CDC officials of "sedition." He has come under fire from critics for politicizing the CDC and the HHS response to the pandemic.
Caputo and his team urged the CDC to show them the weekly science reports before they were released, CNN reported last week. On top of that, some HSS officials pressured the agency to even change the reports' language to ensure they do not undermine Trump's political message.
Responding to that allegation, Caputo made conspiratorial accusations against the CDC. The email form Caputo to the agency's spokesperson was first revealed by The New York Times.
The email shows a CNN reporter reaching out to the CDC spokesperson with a question regarding a vaccine education program that Dr. Anthony Fauci had spoken about back in June. The CDC spokesperson referred the reporter to Caputo, who goes on to escalate the issue.
The CDC spokesperson apologized to Caputo, telling him that they just referred CNN to him without confirming the campaign, but Caputo responded with another short message. He tells the CDC spokesperson that they will talk about this on a teleconference the next day, and demands that the HR representative is in attendance as well.
He also tells the CDC spokesperson that he has added Redfield back in the email exchange, and warns him about removing him again. Democratic National Committee spokeswoman and adviser Lily Adams described this as an orchestrated attempt to make experts leave the agency at the public's expense.