Ex-NY GOP strategist Michael Caputo apologizes for Facebook tirade

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However, the HHS staffers noted that Caputo's fate has yet to be determined.

Politico reports that staffers in attendance revealed that Caputo admitted that his recent remarks that the CDC was acting as a "resistant unit" doing political harm to President Donald Trump did not serve the HHS communications office well.

In addition, Democrats on the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis sent a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar, seeking to interview Caputo and other top HHS officials "regarding efforts by the Trump Administration to block the publication of accurate scientific reports related to the coronavirus crisis".

By Monday afternoon, the personal Twitter account for Caputo, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Health and Human Services Department, displayed a message saying "This account doesn't exist". "Yet HHS officials apparently viewed these scientific reports as opportunities for political manipulation". His Facebook page has since been made private.

The investigation centers on the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports, which researchers have referred to for the most current and reliable details on the coronavirus. Known as MMWR, the report has always been a sacred government information resource for doctors, scientists and researchers tracking outbreaks.

"Secretary Azar can not meet his basic responsibilities while allowing Michael A. Caputo, a yes-man for President Trump with no scientific expertise who publicly attacked CDC scientists and privately interfered with key CDC reports, to continue serving in such an influential role". The bulletins are normally free from political influence.

"With almost 200,000 Americans killed and hundreds more dying each day from the coronavirus pandemic, the public needs and deserves truthful scientific information so they can keep themselves and their families healthy", the Democrats wrote. Caputo also said. "That was a drill".

Caputo, who ran Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino's campaign for governor of NY in 2010, spoke in a live video on his Facebook page, according to the Times.

According to Politico, Mr Caputo and Mr Alexander complained about a report that explained children can transmit the coronavirus and Mr Alexander asked the CDC to alter it or pull it down, saying the report could impact school reopening and hurt Mr Trump politically. According to the Times, Caputo also said: "I don't like being alone in Washington", and that there were "shadows on the ceiling in my apartment, there alone, shadows are so long".