Posted on 04/24/2020 1:56:56 AM PDT by a little elbow grease
WASHINGTON (AP) Calls mounted Thursday for an investigation into the ouster of a senior government scientist who says he's being punished for opposing widespread use of an unproven drug President Donald Trump touted as a remedy for COVID-19.
Rick Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, says he was summarily removed from his job earlier this week and reassigned to a lesser role because he resisted political pressure to allow widespread use of hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug favored by Trump.
On Thursday, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., joined in calling for an investigation by the Health and Human Services inspector general.
"Removing Dr. Bright in the midst of a pandemic would raise serious concerns under any circumstances, but his allegations that political considerations influenced this decision heighten those concerns and demand full accountability, Pallone said. The inspector general's office had no immediate response.
Bright is seeking to be reinstated as head of the research agency, said his lawyers Debra Katz and Lisa Banks. A performance review shows he received a top rating.
(Excerpt) Read more at baytownsun.com ...
Calls mounted... should read...Democrats pounced....
I know were not talking about HCQ? Unproven as a CV-19 drug so far, sure. With a long safety record, thankfully.
However, we can do away with the entire debate under Right to Try.
Sounds like more smear nonsense. Defending WuFlu victims from an old, safe drug that, anecdotally, is proving remarkably effectiveyes, America will be cheering.
The more you hear about it the more you realize the guy was probably getting fired for something else altogether (holdover spy? Saboteur?) and realized he could make a whistleblower claim and the media would ride to his rescue. Somehow I doubt Trump is having any of that.
In the words or Rahm Emanuel, "never let a crisis go to waste."
The Left thinks they can use the crisis to fundamentally change the US. But two can play that game. What is to keep Trump from fundamentally changing the US? Clear out the Deep State. Make America Great Again!
....
shades of a whistleblower past. Something smells like a Ciaramella ...... or a Vindman.
Re: “ouster”
His job title and authority changed.
Same pay.
Same lifetime job security.
Hey, maybe they could just impeach him or something?
Get Schiff on the phone.
Same pay.
Same lifetime job security."
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I hear you.
.... looks like a dweeb to me shades of a whistleblower past
. or even a weasley Vindman.
Yes, they’re following the old plan.
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I don't think so.
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I think he's got the same lawyers as Christine Blasey Ford. Perfect ..... call in Pencil Neck. The script is almost written already .....
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Dr. Marc Siegel's 96 year old father liked it.
In the words or Rahm Emanuel, "never let a crisis go to waste."
The Left thinks they can use the crisis to fundamentally change the US. But two can play that game. What is to keep Trump from fundamentally changing the US? Clear out the Deep State. Make America Great Again!
____________________
.... sounds good to me. However I think he's going to have to hurry.
In government this is how you get rid of people who are not on board with the current game plan. You let them keep their job, but you remove any semblance of power or authority from them. In state government I saw this play out several times when idiots were “kicked upstairs” the the state capital and put where they could do no harm. We used to joke to each other about “how long until so-and-so gets sent to Lansing and gets a broom-closet for an office?”
CC
In government this is how you get rid of people who are not on board with the current game plan. You let them keep their job, but you remove any semblance of power or authority from them. In state government I saw this play out several times when idiots were “kicked upstairs” the the state capital and put where they could do no harm. We used to joke to each other about “how long until so-and-so gets sent to Lansing and gets a broom-closet for an office?”
CC
In the mines we used to say, like a cess pit, the crap rises to the top.
I am mounting a call to probe whether or not we have three coequal branches of government accountable to the voters at some point, and why havent they already fired or demoted the people who actively oppose the administration we want.
"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 said. "The EUA is what made the donated product available for use in combating COVID-19."
So the guy has been moved to NIH to head up point-of-care testing which Fauci said, when asked, is critical. Fauci also refused to suggest where Bright's "gifts" (reporter's term) are best suited, at BARDA or over at NIH in the new capacity. Bright's been at BARDA since 2010.
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LOL .... true.
Also:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52400721
'Ousted' US vaccine expert Rick Bright to file whistleblower complaint
A vaccine expert who says he lost his job because he disagreed with Donald Trump's claims about treatments for Covid-19 is to file a whistleblower complaint, his lawyers say.
Dr Rick Bright led the US government agency trying to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus.
He says he was ousted for questioning the potential of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug touted by Mr Trump. President Trump said he had "never heard" of Dr Bright. The president has previously mentioned the use of hydroxychloroquine and the related drug chloroquine as a possible "game changer" for Covid-19. However, many experts have cautioned that hydroxychloroquine could be ineffective, or even dangerous.
"In our filing we will make clear that Dr Bright was sidelined for one reason only - because he resisted efforts to provide unfettered access to potentially dangerous drugs, including chloroquine, a drug promoted by the administration as a panacea, but which is untested and possibly deadly when used improperly," a statement from the doctor's lawyers said.
But Politico reports that in internal emails Dr Bright praised the health department's recent acquisition of tens of millions of doses of those drugs.
"If Bright opposed hydroxychloroquine, he certainly didn't make that clear from his email - quite the opposite," an unnamed official told Politico.
Bright: "While I am prepared to look at all options and to think 'outside the box' for effective treatments, I rightly resisted efforts to provide an unproven drug on demand to the American public," Dr Bright said.
Asked about the row during the daily coronavirus briefing on Wednesday, President Trump responded: "I've never heard of him."
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