U.S-Ousted U.S. whistleblower says Trump health official played down coronavirus threat

The sacked director of a U.S. agency responsible for producing drugs to fight the coronavirus pandemic registered a whistleblower’s charge accusing President Donald Trump’s administration of countering when he raised concerns, Reuters reported.

Rick Bright states in the complaint filed with a government watchdog that he notified about the virus in January and was met with resentment from Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and other high-ranking officials in the agency.

“Dr. Bright acted with urgency to begin to address this pandemic but encountered resistance from HHS leadership, including Secretary Azar, who appeared intent on downplaying this catastrophic threat,” reads the complaint, which his lawyers filed with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

The U.S. coronavirus death toll, now over 70,000, is the world’s highest. Democratic politicians and some fellow Republicans have scrutinised Trump for playing down the threat of the virus and then being slow to galvanize the production of testing and protective gear.

Bright’s lawyers argue that his removal as director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, a division of HHS, violated a federal law protecting government whistleblowers.

HHS spokeswoman Caitlin Oakley said in a statement that Bright was transferred to a job where he was entrusted to spend around $1 billion to develop diagnostic testing.