US House panel subpoenas documents from Trump officials over interference with CDC

Washington, Dec 22 : A panel in the Democratic-controlled US House on Monday issued subpoenas seeking documents from top health officials in the administration of President Donald Trump over alleged political interference with the Centers for Disease Control and prevention (CDC).
In a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar and CDC Director Robert Redfield, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis said, “the subpoenas were necessary because the Select Subcommittee’s investigation has revealed that efforts to interfere with scientific work at CDC were far more extensive and dangerous than previously known.” It said such efforts “involved numerous high-level officials at CDC and HHS”, the Xinhua news agency reported.
“Documents recently obtained by the Subcommittee 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,” read the letter signed by James Clyburn, chairman of the subcommittee who, as House majority whip, is the highest-ranking African-American lawmaker in the chamber.
Clyburn said Trump administration appointees targeted reports that provided evidence of the virus’s “early spread” across the country and “massive spread” this summer, which they believed sent “the wrong message” about the administration’s policies.
HHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Michael Caputo and his science adviser Paul Alexander spearheaded the political interference campaign, attempting to block or influence the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) for months, according to Clyburn.