Azar would be the first big head to roll on the White House coronavirus task force, but not necessarily because of his job performance in that role
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Bright said that the Trump administration has “politicized the work of BARDA and has pressured me and other conscientious scientists to fund companies with political connections as well as efforts that lack scientific merit.” The surprise new scandal apparently upset Vice President Mike Pence and his aides.
Azar was the first administration official to lead the White House coronavirus task force, but was soon replaced by Pence in late February, one day after Trump reportedly called Azar and threatened to fire him after a CDC official announced in a briefing that the U.S. was expecting the coronavirus to lead to a pandemic.
Azar has faced criticism over his ineffectual response as well. Last week, the Journal reported that “interviews with more than two dozen administration officials and others involved in the government’s coronavirus effort show that Mr. Azar waited for weeks to brief the president on the threat, oversold his agency’s progress in the early days and didn’t coordinate effectively across the health-care divisions under his purview.
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