By Dareh Gregorian - NBC News
The spokesman for the Department of Health (HHS, in English) will take a leave from his position in the federal agency, as announced Wednesday, just days after he promoted dangerous conspiracy theories during a live video on the social network Facebook.
In the video, first reported by The New York Times, Michael Caputo, HHS Undersecretary of Public Affairs,
accused scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of “not wanting States to United improve
.
"
He urged supporters of the president, Donald Trump, to stockpile ammunition in preparation for an alleged violent rebellion by the left, which he said would happen when the president wins re-election in November.
Caputo also said in the video that he has had health problems and that his "mental health has definitely failed."
In Wednesday's announcement, HHS said Caputo "has decided to take a leave of absence to focus on his health and the well-being of his family. He will
remain that way for the next 60 days."
[Trump appreciates support from extremist supporters of the false QAnon conspiracy theory]
Caputo issued a statement shortly thereafter saying he was receiving treatment for a recently discovered "lymphatic problem."
He did not mention his Facebook speech, but said that health problem "contributed to the stress level, along with the increasing number of violent threats."
Michael Caputo.Reuters
The White House named the Trump loyalist as undersecretary in April, following reports that the agency's secretary, Alex Azar, had raised his voice early on his concern about the coronavirus.
In the intervening months, Caputo, who has no scientific training, has been accused of attempting to interfere with CDC messages about the virus, but never as vociferously as he did on Facebook.
In his video, Caputo repeatedly criticized CDC scientists, the New York Times reported,
publicly undermining the agency's work during the pandemic,
which has already caused more than 190,000 deaths in the United States.
In addition, he said that CDC scientists are involved in a "sedition" attempt, plotting "how to attack Trump."
"There are scientists working for this administration who do not want the United States to improve, not until Joe Biden is president," Caputo said.
They have been pushing "rotten science," he argued.
This Tuesday he apologized to members of the HHS staff.
[Trump spreads a bogus conspiracy theory about a "plane loaded with thugs" and "people in the shadows"]
Azar sidestepped a question about this video on Tuesday: "I'm not going to comment on someone's personal posts on social media. Michael Caputo has been a valued member of our coronavirus response team, but I'm not going to get into that. Those. they are your personal posts on social media. "
The New York Times reported that the Facebook livestream was on Caputo's personal page on that platform, where he had 5,000 followers.
His Facebook page and Twitter account appear to have been removed
on Monday.
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In the same broadcast, Caputo also appeared to take advantage of some Democrats' fears that Trump would try to stay in office even if Biden wins the election, and lashed out at that argument.
Instead, he
suggested that Trump would win, but Biden would refuse to admit it.
"And when Donald Trump refuses to resign at the inauguration,
the shooting will begin
," Caputo said.
He also called the assassination of a Trump supporter in Portland by a self-proclaimed "anti-fascist" a "sham".
"The drills they know don't compare (to this)," Caputo said.
"If you have guns, buy ammunition, ladies and gentlemen, because it is going to be difficult to handle," he added.
Caputo also said that "they", without identifying who he was referring to, "are going to have to kill me."
[This is what Donald Trump and Joe Biden propose for the United States to win the presidency]
In a statement to The Times on Monday, HHS praised Caputo, calling him "a fundamental and integral part of the president's response to the coronavirus, leading in messaging to the public as Americans need public health information to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic ".
The alarming Facebook comments came two days after the journal Politico reported that Caputo and his press team
had been demanding changes to CDC reports that they believed were contrary to Trump's messages
about the virus.
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In an interview with The Washington Post on Saturday, Caputo confirmed that was the case.
Referring to some of the scientific reports from the CDC, he said that "there is concern throughout HHS that some of the reports have been affected by the policy," Caputo said.
In the statement announcing his at least temporary departure from the agency, HHS also announced the departure of Dr. Paul Alexander, an old friend of Caputo who had been hired as his "scientific advisor."
Reportedly,
Alexander was involved in attempts that CDC will tone down their reporting mortality,
and complained to agency officials in an email that the reports seemed to
be "damaging to the Administration pieces" .
The HHS statement said he had been "hired to assist the department on a temporary basis" and "will be leaving the department."
House Democrats are investigating Caputo and his team's alleged meddling in CDC reports.
Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Health Committee, had called for Caputo's resignation on Monday.
He is
"a henchman for the president with no scientific background who publicly attacked CDC scientists and privately interfered with key reports
," Murray said.
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer went further and called on Azar to resign, saying that he has been "completely silent about the chaos and mismanagement" at the agency while failing not to slow down. the "political appointments", referring to Caputo.
Both the White House and HHS said Azar is not going anywhere.
"It is surprising that the Senate Democratic leader called for the resignation of the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the midst of a pandemic," said White House spokesman Judd Deere.
HHS spokeswoman Caitlin Oakley said Schumer's comments were "misinformed and are an attempt to mislead the American people and discredit the historic work of the Trump Administration to combat COVID-19."