Coronavirus whistleblower Dr. Rick Bright to testify before House health committee on May 14

[CDC]

Whistleblower says Trump White House ignored coronavirus warnings

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.

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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."

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Whistleblower alleges Trump administration ignored coronavirus warnings[Orion Rummler, Axios]