Coronavirus whistleblower Dr. Rick Bright to testify before House health committee on May 14
Dr. Rick Bright plans to testify before the House Energy Subcommittee on Health on May 14, his lawyers told reporters on Tuesday.
Bright is the coronavirus whistleblower who says the Trump White House ignored early warnings on the deadly pandemic that is now, in May 2020, killing more than a thousand Americans each day.
In his whistleblower complaint, Dr. Bright says the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) knew early, was slow to react, ignored red flags on lack of testing materials and PPE, and pushed contracts "based on political connections."
Trump administration was warned repeatedly in mid January that it would have a critical shortage of surgical masks needed to combat coronavirus. But it failed to take action..."
Bright also says in the complaint that the Trump administration wanted to flood" hot spots in New York and New Jersey with hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug pushed by Trump which was later found to have serious problems.
NEW: Dr. Rick Bright, the ousted BARDA chief who had led vaccine development for Covid-19, revealed his whistleblower complaint today.
He says Trump admin demanded NY and NJ be "flooded" with hydroxychloroquine as an unproven "panacea."
Doc: https://t.co/B9GmNH1kkr pic.twitter.com/ktovlnMoE3
- Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) May 5, 2020
More at Axios:
In his complaint, Bright claims he was excluded from an HHS meeting on the coronavirus in late January after he "pressed for urgent access to funding, personnel, and clinical specimens, including viruses" to develop treatments for the coronavirus should it spread outside of Asia.
Bright alleges it "became increasingly clear" in late January that "HHS leadership was doing nothing to prepare for the imminent mask shortage."
Bright claims he "resisted efforts to fall into line with the Administration's directive to promote the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine and to award lucrative contracts for these and other drugs even though they lacked scientific merit and had not received prior scientific vetting."
He adds that "even as HHS leadership began to acknowledge the imminent shortages in critical medical supplies, they failed to recognize the magnitude of the problem, and they failed to take the necessary urgent action."
READ MORE:
Whistleblower alleges Trump administration ignored coronavirus warnings[Orion Rummler, Axios]
Vaccine expert Rick Bright says he was punished for raising concerns about Trump's coronavirus response, nepotism https://t.co/ohEF72kvqD via @NicholasFlorko
- Adam Feuerstein (@adamfeuerstein) May 5, 2020
BREAKING: Dr. Rick Bright, who says he was shoved out of his coronavirus response job for pushing back on efforts to fund "drugs promoted by those with political connections," files whistleblower complaint charging "gross mismanagement" at agency. https://t.co/PNvIDKfusv
- NBC News (@NBCNews) May 5, 2020
Whistleblower complaint explicitly calls out Trump on falsely promoting #hydroxychroloquine.
"President Trump falsely stated" results of clinical trials.
"HHS, at President Trump's insistence, was touting as a safe treatment"
Full complaint: https://t.co/0iaKoQwDl8 #RickBright pic.twitter.com/J6Sp79b9EB
- Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) May 5, 2020
The 58-page whistleblower complaint says he was transferred from Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) "without warning or explanation" over his refusal to embrace hydroxychloroquine - the drug embraced by Pres. Trump as a potential coronavirus remedy.
- NBC News (@NBCNews) May 5, 2020
I insisted on scientifically-vetted proposals, and I pushed for a more aggressive agency response to COVID-19. My supervisor became furious when Congress appropriated billions of dollars directly to my office, and when I spoke directly to members of Congress," the complaint says
- NBC News (@NBCNews) May 5, 2020
.@clairecmc on HHS whistleblower Dr. Rick Bright: "What Dr. Bright is describing is the swampiest of swamp behavior. He's talking about cronyism. He's talking about being pushed into decisions based on who people knew and people making money, as opposed to science." pic.twitter.com/fq8IjFUQTJ
- MSNBC (@MSNBC) May 5, 2020
Dr. Rick Bright alleges it "became increasingly clear" in late January that "HHS leadership was doing nothing to prepare for the imminent mask shortage."
Pair that with Jared Kushner's efforts that led to no N95 mask shipments to the U.S. in March:https://t.co/uKSvQkTEQf
- Adam Rifkin
(@ifindkarma) May 5, 2020
Rick Bright will testify on Capitol Hill next Thursday, his lawyers just said.
- Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) May 5, 2020
Rick Bright said in his whistleblower complaint that the Trump administration wanted to flood" hot spots in New York and New Jersey with hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug favored by President Trump. https://t.co/RcxosNmWk8
- The Associated Press (@AP) May 5, 2020
Dr. Rick Bright alleges it "became increasingly clear" in late January that "HHS leadership was doing nothing to prepare for the imminent mask shortage." https://t.co/YWDobyk6M0
- Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 5, 2020
"On a call with reporters on Tuesday, (Rick) Bright's lawyers, Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, said Bright came under pressure from Kadlec to award contracts 'based on political connections and cronyism...'" #whistleblower https://t.co/xjIVoR8hUU
- Carol Ross Joynt (@caroljoynt) May 5, 2020