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April 29 (UPI) — The head of an independent government watchdog appeared in Congress on Friday to expand on a recent report and answer questions about new evidence that former President Donald Trump interfered in the COVID-19 response two years ago for political purposes.
Gene Dodaro, chief of the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, was called to testify before the House select coronavirus subcommittee. In his remarks, he said that the accusations indicate that federal health agencies have work to do in ensuring that political interference doesn’t compromise scientific integrity.
The GAO is Congress’ main auditing and investigative agency and is often referred to as the “congressional watchdog.”
Dodaro’s appearance came after a GAO report last week described incidents of political interference under Trump. It said that scientists at top health organizations witnessed political interference just weeks after COVID-19 arrived in March 2020. It explained that some scientists at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said the interference they witnessed led to changing or suppressing scientific findings.
The interference, however, wasn’t reported because the witnesses feared retaliation, the assessment said. It further found that all three agencies under Trump trained staff on scientific integrity, and the National Institutes of Health provided information on political interference as part of its training.
The 37-page GAO report said that interference was also seen in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
Dodaro told the subcommittee Friday that the report has spurred concern about the public’s trust in the health agencies.
“People did not know how to report if they believed there was something inappropriate,” Dodaro said during the virtual hearing. “People didn’t understand how they would be protected.
“So we recommended that the four agencies develop policies and procedures in order to report and address any allegations of potential political influence.”
Subcommittee Chairman Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said before the hearing that the panel has received new evidence that support the accusations that Trump interfered in decision-making about the coronavirus response.
“We must never again allow politics to interfere with processes of public health,” he said at Friday’s teleconference.
Clyburn added that the political interference by Trump made the United States sicker and “did immense damage to our public health workforce and to public trust in our scientific institutions.”
Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the panel’s ranking Republican, deflected the accusations toward President Joe Biden‘s administration, saying that such “interference with science that is well-documented.”
Scalise accused Biden’s CDC of leaking guidance on school openings to the American Federation of Teachers — something he said was on par with the GAO report about Trump.
The watchdog’s assessment, however, continues a long string of accusations about the former president’s handling of the health emergency when it arrived in the United States. Trump admitted to journalist Bob Woodward later in 2020 that he deliberately downplayed the threat of the virus. Other accusations have said that Trump exploited parts of the government’s pandemic response for a political advantage in a presidential election year — such as pushing for a COVID-19 vaccine before Election Day.
“The previous administration engaged in a persistent pattern of political interference in the nation’s pandemic response, prioritizing election-year politics over protecting American lives,” Clyburn said in a previous statement.
“The lifesaving work of scientists at our public health agencies must never be corrupted for the perceived political benefit of the president or for any other reason.”
A report by the House subcommittee last December found that Trump’s administration performed various efforts to influence or downplay the virus — which included blocking experts from speaking publicly about health dangers, playing down testing guidance and attempting to interfere with public health guidelines.
The GAO report last week supported those findings, and said employees at the agencies witnessed political interference that “may have resulted in the politically motivated alteration of public health guidance or delayed publication of COVID-19 related scientific findings.”
“For example in May 2020, a senior official from [the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response] claimed HHS retaliated against him for disclosing … concerns about inappropriate political interference to make chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine available to the public as treatments for COVID-19,” GAO officials wrote.
“The absence of specific procedures may explain why the four selected agencies did not identify any formally reported internal allegations of potential political interference in scientific decision-making from 2010 through 2021,” the report states.
The GAO recommended that the agencies provide information on whistleblower protections and clarify reporting requirements for employees who witness political interference. The recommendations are intended to reduce fear of retaliation and encourage more witnesses to come forward when they should.
