House Democrats Subpoena Azar, Redfield for Alleged Political Interference Against COVID-19 Reports

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis issued subpoenas on Monday to the chiefs of HHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), demanding documents relating to the Democrats’ investigation of alleged political tampering with coronavirus response efforts.

“[Our] investigation has revealed that efforts to interfere with scientific work at CDC were far more extensive and dangerous than previously known,” Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), who chairs the subcommittee, said in a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar and CDC Director Robert Redfield. “Documents recently obtained … show that over a period of four months, as coronavirus cases and deaths rose around the country, Trump administration appointees attempted to alter or block at least 13 scientific reports related to the virus,” he said.

The chairman of the subcommittee claimed that HHS has engaged in more than three months of obstruction and that Redfield commanded subordinates to delete a document integral to their probe, alleging that new evidence has come to light showing political appointees went after CDC reports warning of rising numbers of cases throughout the U.S. The reports they allegedly targeted detailed the virus’ “early spread” across the country and its “massive spread” over the summer, Clyburn claimed.

“Top political officials at HHS and CDC not only tolerated these efforts, but in some cases aided them — even after a senior career official warned that CDC’s scientific writing ‘needs to remain an independent process’ and that the administration’s attempts to influence these reports violated ‘longstanding policy,’” Clyburn said.

The subpoenas, which were issued after HHS failed to deliver the documents to the subcommittee following a Sept. 14 request, require unredacted versions of the documents to be handed over by Dec. 30. It’s likely that some of the documents requested will involve the FDA, which works closely with HHS and the CDC on its reports.

HHS denied interfering with any CDC coronavirus reports and claimed the administration “has been extremely cooperative with the subcommittee” in its investigation. It also claimed that the scope of Monday’s subpoenas would require delivery of nearly every email sent or received by political appointees related to COVID-19, which could potentially span millions of emails.

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Minority Whip and a ranking member of the subcommittee, characterized the Democrats’ issuance of subpoenas as political grandstanding, claiming that HHS has turned over more than 15,000 documents and continues to do so.

“Even though witness testimony has already slammed shut the notion of any political interference in CDC scientific reports, Democrats continue to search for imaginary evidence of improper political influence in the Trump administration’s whole-of-America pandemic response,” Scalise said. “Issuing midnight subpoenas that turn into pumpkins in less than two weeks will not speed up production of the tens of thousands of documents HHS has already produced.”

Read the subcommittee’s letter here: www.fdanews.com/12-21-20-Letter.pdf. — James Miessler