Since he was installed at the 80,000-employee department in April by the White House, Mr. Caputo, a media-savvy former Trump campaign aide with no background in health, has worked aggressively to control the media strategy on pandemic issues. But over the weekend, he was engulfed in two explosive controversies of his own making.
First Politico, then The New York Times and other news outlets published accounts of how Mr. Caputo and a top aide, Dr. Paul Alexander, had routinely worked to revise, delay or even scuttle the core health bulletins of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in an effort to paint the administrations pandemic response in a more positive light. The C.D.C.s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports had previously been so thoroughly shielded from political interference that political appointees only saw them just before they were published.
Then on Monday, a Times article about his Facebook Live presentation created a new public relations debacle for him and the department. In a statement that day, Mr. Caputo said that since the spring, he and his family had been continually harassed and threatened, including by some individuals who he said were being prosecuted. He said he appreciated the presidents understanding.
It was highly unusual for Mr. Caputo to hire Dr. Alexander, who critiqued the C.D.C. reports, to serve as his scientific adviser. In emails obtained by Politico, Dr. Alexander complained that the C.D.C. was writing hit pieces on the administration and insisted that it should be prevented from issuing weekly reports unless I read and agree with the findings.
Mr. Caputo hailed Dr. Alexander as a genius in his Facebook talk. McMaster University in Canada had listed him as an assistant professor on its website, but on Monday, the university said that while Dr. Alexander had received his doctorate there, he was not on the faculty.
He is not currently teaching and he is not paid by the university for his contract role as a part-time assistant professor,a spokeswoman, Susan Emigh, said.read more
Trump Health Official Apologizes for Facebook Outburst
