“Yippie!!!”
That was the reaction of a Trump administration official after he successfully pressured the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to alter a report related to the coronavirus pandemic. The edit – suggested by Trump science advisor Paul Alexander – centered on how the virus spreads among young people. At the time, September 2020, the Trump administration was trying to convince the public that reopening schools was safe.
The stunning revelation, first reported by The Washington Post, is among a number of examples of the Trump administration interfering with career scientists to advance a political agenda they thought would help propel Trump’s re-election bid. The Post obtained a cache of emails sent by Trump officials that are now part of a congressional investigation.
Likewise, a September 2020 Politico report highlights an email from Alexander to CDC leadership. The email read, “Nothing to go out unless I read and agree with the findings how they CDC [sic], wrote it and I tweak it to ensure it is fair and balanced and ‘complete.'”
According to the emails Politico reviewed, Alexander thought the CDC was trying to “hurt the president” by “writing hit pieces.”
In addition, Trump’s CDC director, Dr. Robert Redfield, told CNN last month that he was pressured by Trump officials, including Alex Azar, the former Secretary of Health and Human Services, to alter the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a CDC publication that shares “recommendations derived from science-based research.” Azar disputes this claim.
Rep. James Clyburn, a democrat from South Carolina and the chair of the subcommittee conducting the investigation, sent a letter to two of Trump’s science advisors on Friday morning, Alexander and Dr. Scott Atlas. From the letter:
“Our investigation has shown that Trump Administration officials engaged in a persistent pattern of political interference in the nation’s public health response to the coronavirus pandemic, overruling and bullying scientists and making harmful decisions that allowed the virus to spread more rapidly.”
According to The Washington Post, Alexander tried to undermine Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease expert. On August 11th, Alexander emailed Health and Human Services leadership, “Dr. Fauci has no data, no science to back up what he is saying on school reopen, none … he is scaring the nation wrongfully.”
Emails also show that Alexander plotted with Dr. Atlas to craft talking points and ope-eds that opposed lockdowns and mask wearing. Alexander wanted to stress that lockdowns might lead to additional suicides. In fact, suicides dipped in 2020. He also wrote, without evidence, that masking “children (and healthy adults)… can dampen their functional immune systems.”
Alexander is not a physician. Dr. Atlas is a radiologist with little relevant medical experience related to coronaviruses or pandemics.
As of April 9th, 560,000 Americans have died of Covid-19. Many experts – including Dr. Deborah Birx, who served as the White House coronavirus response coordinator under the Trump administration – said most of the deaths were preventable.
