Despite the fact that America is suffering through economic calamity brought about by a pandemic that originated in a country we may have to fight someday, leave it to our Left-wing “mainstream media” to continue its news fakery.
On Wednesday, The New York Times published a story breathlessly claiming that “a doctor who led a U.S. agency helping to develop a coronavirus vaccine says he was removed because he questioned the promotion of hydroxychloroquine, a drug endorsed by President Trump without rigorous vetting,” according to a tweet sent from the paper’s official account.
Dr. Rick Bright was abruptly dismissed this week as the director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, and removed as the deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response. He was given a narrower job at the National Institutes of Health.
In a scorching statement, Dr. Bright assailed the leadership at the health department, saying he was pressured to direct money toward hydroxychloroquine, one of several “potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections” and repeatedly described by the president as a potential “game changer” in the fight against the virus.
A “scorching statement,” indeed.
However, like most ‘bombshells’ the Times claims to have dropped in the Era of Trump, this ‘scoop’ disintegrated as well, and within a few hours, as noted by Red State.
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Turns out, first of all, that Bright himself actually requested that the FDA grant emergency approval for that ‘Trump drug.’
Independent journalist Jeryl Bier found the smoking gun document:
That really doesn’t make Bright look like he was ‘pressured’ to do much of anything regarding hydroxychloroquine, does it? Nor does it make him seem like he thought the drug was “dangerous.”
But wait, as the late-night infomercial cautions, there’s more.
Three people with knowledge of HHS’ recent acquisition of tens of millions of doses of those drugs said that Bright had supported those acquisitions in internal communications, with one official saying that Bright praised the move as a win for the health department as part of an email exchange that was first reported by Reuters last week, although Bright’s message was not publicly reported.
“If Bright opposed hydroxychloroquine, he certainly didn’t make that clear from his email — quite the opposite,” said the official, who has seen copies of the email exchanges.
“As it relates to chloroquine, it was Dr. Bright who requested an Emergency Use Authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for donations of chloroquine that Bayer and Sandoz recently made to the Strategic National Stockpile for use on COVID-19 patients,” spokesperson Caitlin Oakley told Politico. “The EUA is what made the donated product available for use in combating COVID-19.”
As for Bright himself, Politico reporter Dan Diamond shared, with permission, a screenshot of text messages indicating that the Trump administration has been looking to dump Bright for some time.
Given what we now know, Bright wasn’t fired for anything having to do with the drug. And, as Red State notes, he has a history of insubordination and incompetence — all of which has a lot more to do with why he’s been ousted than the ‘woe is me’ tale he told the Times.
And by the way, how come the Times doesn’t know any of this? Did anyone bother to check on Bright’s story before running with another anti-Trump “gotcha” piece that didn’t actually ‘get’ him? It doesn’t seem like it.
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Now for the best part. Bright hired Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, two lawyers who ‘specialize’ in whistleblower cases. You may recall Katz over her malfeasance during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings as Christine Blasey Ford’s legal counsel.
It was determined by the FBI and by independent analysis that her allegations of sexual abuse against Kavanaugh were completely bogus. Yet Katz stands by them, then and now.
