CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Jimmy Gomez

Interview

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Today, he went to Florida on a fund-raising trip, plus a hastily meeting on the outbreak with Florida's governor. All hands on deck indeed.

More now with the whistle-blower's allegations of workers being put in harm's way without the protection needed to stay safe, California Democratic Congressman Jimmy Gomez has been in touch with her. We spoke shortly before airtime.

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COOPER: The whistle-blower at HHS reached out to your office about two weeks ago. You've been in touch with her ever since.

REP. JIMMY GOMEZ (D-CA): Yes.

COOPER: Why did they reach out to you and what did they tell you?

GOMEZ: Well, they reached out to me because my -- committee I'm on Ways and Means oversees the Heath and Human Services Department called Administration of Child and Family Services and specifically the program on repatriation of individuals who are coming back from abroad.

COOPER: And the people who this HHS worker said they were set to deal with were the first group of Americans who had been evacuated from essentially ground zero in China?

GOMEZ: Correct. This first group of Americans were sent to the base, Travis Air Force Base, as well as March. And the HHS staffers were sent there to help the CDC bring them back into the country. COOPER: And you asked, I know, Secretary Azar --

GOMEZ: Yes.

COOPER: -- about the idea of sending employees into potentially harm's way without enough training, without protective equipment, he basically dismissed the possibility. Is that right?

GOMEZ: Yes. Well, he didn't know that I knew the situation that actually occurred on the ground. He was speaking from the fact that they're supposed to follow protocols and there's no way they would have been in violation with those protocols.

COOPER: So, he didn't know that you knew about the whistle-blower?

GOMEZ: Correct. And what we wanted to know is have them confirm to us what -- that there's supposed to be protocols, that they have to have what they call personal protective equipment and they're not supposed to be in contact with people that are infected by the coronavirus.

That was really confirming that they were in violation of those protocols.

COOPER: So, I mean, from what I read in "The Washington Post" story, that the HHS person who was the whistle-blower said that when they got there, there were other agencies, CDC and others, who actually had protective equipment that they were using but their employees did not. Correct?

GOMEZ: Yes, that's correct.

COOPER: I mean, that's got to be terrifying to these employees to get there and realize, wait a minute, everyone else is in like Tyvek suits and high level protection?

GOMEZ: Yes, I know that's the situation. And that's why the team that got sent was on the ground raised those concerns to the team leader on site. Then they also raised it to the whistle-blower's attention, and they complained about the lack of protective gear, the lack of protocols, making sure that the staff on the ground was not leaving the containment area. They were deeply concerned and wanted that team tested when they returned.

They didn't test them. They didn't monitor them. Some of them were allowed to fly commercial flights back to their home bases. And it's not just Washington, D.C., across the country.

COOPER: So, let me stop you there because this was also in "The Washington Post" story. And I found that amazing is that this HHS team, and the whistleblower saying they didn't have the gear, they didn't have the training, they had in some cases face-to-face contacts with Americans from ground zero of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, who for all they knew at the time might have been infected, might not have been, but they had to go directly into quarantine, and then they were not only those HHS employees not tested but they were allowed to get on, in some cases, commercial flights going to different parts of the country?

GOMEZ: Correct. That's what alarmed me, not only that they broke protocol, that there's individuals that were flying around the country that were not tested. And what I learned from a briefing today from the CDC is that half of the people on the cruise ship, on the cruise ship who were infected --

COOPER: The Diamond Princess?

GOMEZ: Yes, who were infected showed no symptoms and they were still he spreading the disease.

[20:10:03]

So, that's the concern is that there wasn't -- they didn't take -- Health and Human Services didn't take this seriously. They didn't start monitoring them. They didn't really give them a follow-up. They didn't test them.

And I still don't know to this day if they've been tested.

COOPER: Do -- I mean, you were part of that briefing. Do you feel like the government and the administration is prepared for this? Is America prepared for this?

GOMEZ: I hope so. Right now, I feel like it was a discombobulated effort. There sometimes one agency doesn't know what the other agency is doing.

But this administration has a fear of experts, of civil servants who have dedicated their lives. They need to let the experts -- the medical experts do their jobs, right, and do it well and give them the resources and equipment that they need.

COOPER: I was really disturbed in something Mick Mulvaney said, the acting chief of staff at the White House, because so many people are acting in the administration, in positions, he said that this is getting a lot of attention from the press because the press thinks it's, quote, going to be the thing that brings down the president.

I mean, not only is that incredibly cynical, which I get, but it's just -- I mean, it's just -- it's wrong.

GOMEZ: No, it's shameful. Yes, no, this is shameful. This is not about the president.

This is about the American people and the public health, right? That's what it's about, trying to make sure that we combat this the best we can. And this administration trying to make it about the president shows where their priorities lie.

COOPER: When you hear the administration has sent out a -- or issued a directive that all messaging from government health officials and scientists has to be approved by Vice President Pence's office, is that the way things are normally done? GOMEZ: No, it's not the way things are normally done. I heard in

previous instances, like in SARS, that they had the head of CDC speaking out regarding what was going on. That's what we need more of.

The public wants to hear not from politicians, you know, including myself. They want to hear from the health experts. They want to hear from people who are meant to keep them safe and that's -- and with no varnish, right?

So, we want to make sure that that starts again. You know, we want to get people the facts.

COOPER: Congressman Gomez, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it.

GOMEZ: Yes, thank you.

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