Letter to The Hon. Michael E. Horowitz, Acting Chair of The Council of The Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency - Warren, Blumenthal & Markey Urge Cares Act Inspectors General to Investigate Political Interference in Trump Administration's Covid-19 Response

Letter

Dear Inspector General Horowitz:
We write to follow up on our previous request to the Pandemic Response Accountability
Committee (PRAC) to open an investigation of the Trump Administration's politicization of the
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic response effort.1 Since we last wrote to you in April, a slew
of new evidence has revealed that President Trump and his advisors have repeatedly put their
partisan political interests ahead of the health and welfare of the American people.
Earlier this year we wrote to you regarding a disturbing pattern of politicization and
incompetence in the Trump Administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We
concluded by urging "you to open a comprehensive investigation of the partisan and political
nature of the Trump Administration's response to the pandemic," noting that "Americans should
not have to wonder whether their lives are being put at risk by the President's concern for his
political prospects amidst a public health and economic calamity."
2 Ongoing actions and
statements by the Administration since that time have only heightened our concern.
We continue to be alarmed that President Trump is allowing partisanship to guide crucial
decisions instead of expert public health advice, and we therefore ask that you expand your
investigation of President Trump's profoundly troubling COVID-19 response to include these
newly reported incidents. Our concerns are described in additional detail below.
Partisan Politics Have Prevented the Trump Administration from Implementing a National
Testing Strategy
First, the Trump Administration has allowed political concerns to prevent the
development of the strongest possible federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including
the development of a nationwide testing strategy that could have made a significant difference in
controlling the spread of the virus. From the beginning of this crisis, President Trump has

1 Letter from Senators Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, and Edward J. Markey to Inspector General Michael
Horowitz, April 21, 2020,
https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2020.04.21%20Letter%20to%20PRAC%20re%20politicization%20
of%20covid%20response%202.pdf.
2
Id.
2
focused on minimizing the number of reported cases of COVID-19, even if that results in
broader community spread. In February, speaking about the evacuation of Americans who
contracted COVID-19 on a cruise ship in Japan, he said, "I would rather [keep them abroad]
because I like the numbers being where they are. I don't need to have the numbers double
because of one ship that wasn't our fault."3
In June, he made clear that he is still resisting
comprehensive testing and accurate reporting about the number of COVID-19 cases in the
United States, tweeting that increasing tests "makes us look bad"4
and asking his administration
to "slow the testing down, please."5
(He later clarified that these remarks were not a joke.6
)
These remarks, separated by months, show a consistent desire to prioritize the political
perception of the pandemic over public health actions that recognize the reality of the pandemic,
and therefore save lives.
Moreover, recent reports indicate that a comprehensive national testing plan developed
by the White House was shelved after White House officials, including those close to the
President's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, concluded that the pandemic was primarily affecting
Democratic states, and therefore could be blamed on Democratic governors.
7 According to
Vanity Fair, a national testing plan was developed, but was put on hold after "a member of
Kushner's team expressed… that because the virus had hit blue states hardest, a national plan
was unnecessary and would not make sense politically." Vanity Fair also reported that "one
public health expert in frequent contact with the White House's official coronavirus task force"
said, "The political folks believed that because it was going to be relegated to Democratic states,
that they could blame those governors, and that would be an effective political strategy" -- a view
that "may have swayed Kushner.8
Instead of coordinating a national strategy to make testing and the delivery of test results
quick, free, and accessible across the country, which experts agree would have been key to an
effective containment strategy,9 President Trump sent mixed messages and showed a consistent
unwillingness to address the severity of the crisis, whether out of a lack of understanding or a
fear that honestly accounting for millions of cases among Americans, and over 170,000 deaths,
would hurt his political prospects. As a result, the federal government has repeatedly abdicated

3 Washington Post, "Which is Trump more worried about: Coronavirus numbers or coronavirus patients?" Philip
Bump, March 7, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/07/which-is-trump-more-worried-aboutcoronavirus-numbers-or-coronavirus-patients/.
4 Donald J. Trump, June 15, 2020, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1272532925460905984.
5 Stat News, "Trump says more Covid019 testing "creates more cases.' We did the math," Sharon Begley, July 20,
2020, https://www.statnews.com/2020/07/20/trump-said-more-covid19-testing-creates-more-cases-we-did-themath/.
6 CNN, "Trump now says he wasn't kidding when he told officials to slow down coronavirus testing, contradicting
staff," Maegan Vazquez, June 23, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/22/politics/donald-trump-testing-slow-downresponse/index.html.
7 Vanity Fair, "How Jared Kushner's Secret Testing Plan "Went Poof Into Thin Air,'" Katherine Eban, July 30,
2020, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/07/how-jared-kushners-secret-testing-plan-went-poof-into-thin-air
8
Id.
9 New England Journal of Medicine, "Failing the Test -- The Tragic Data Gap Undermining the U.S. Pandemic
Response," Eric C. Schneider, July 23, 2020, https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2014836.
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its responsibility to manage and improve the country's testing infrastructure, deepening our
national emergency and costing lives.10
President Trump Favors Political Allies in His Response to the Public Health Emergency
Second, President Trump has continued to play favorites among states, apparently
refusing to address the full scope of problems in states that did not provide him with electoral
votes in the 2016 election and granting significant financial advantages to his closest political
allies. Recently, he reportedly agreed to pay the full cost of National Guard troops deployed to
support the pandemic response in only two states, Florida and Texas, because their governors
made "special, direct cases to the President."11 The National Governors Association reported that
governors across the country had asked for the same arrangement, including in states with higher
numbers of COVID-19 cases, but the only requests granted initially were those from Texas and
Florida, whose governors enjoy a close personal and political relationship with the President and
that had voted for President Trump in the 2016 election; other states will face 25% cuts to their
federal support later this month.12 After public criticism, the Administration later announced that
Arizona, Connecticut, and California would also receive extensions, but only through
September.
13
This incident echoes reports from earlier this spring that governors who had a close
relationship with President Trump and vulnerable Senators up for reelection in the fall were
being prioritized for supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile, leaving "officials wondering
whether politics is playing a role in the response."
14 In both cases, it appears that President
Trump directed substantial federal emergency response resources to his political allies, at the
expense of Americans desperately in need in other states.
The Trump Administration Has Exerted Significant Political Pressure
on Public Health Agencies
Third, President Trump and other Administration officials have repeatedly and publicly
pressured federal public health agencies to modify or revoke their public health guidelines in
order to support his political goals. In April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

10 The Atlantic, "There's One Big Reason the U.S. Economy Can't Reopen," Robinson Meyer, May 8, 2020,
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/05/theres-only-one-way-out-of-this-mess/611431/.
11 CNN, "Trump singles out Texas and Florida for help with coronavirus response," Priscilla Alvarez, Jeremy
Diamond, and Ryan Browne, August 6, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/06/politics/trump-national-guardcoronavirus-texas-florida/index.html.
12 Politico, "States push back on White House justification for National Guard funding disparity," Alice Miranda
Ollstein, August 6, 2020, https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/06/national-guard-funding-states-392457.
13 The Hill, "Trump administration covers full Guard costs for just some states, frustrating governors," Brett
Samuels, August 7, 2020, https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/511092-trump-administration-cover-fullguard-costs-for-just-some-states.
14 Washington Post, "Governors plead for medical equipment from federal stockpile plagued by shortages and
confusion," Toluse Olorunnipa, Josh Dawsey, Chelsea Janes, and Isaac Stanley-Becker, March 31, 2020,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/governors-plead-for-medical-equipment-from-federal-stockpile-plaguedby-shortages-and-confusion/2020/03/31/18aadda0-728d-11ea-87da-77a8136c1a6d_story.html.
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(CDC) announced an extension of its "No Sail" order, which prohibited cruise ship voyages.15
Vice President Pence reportedly ordered the CDC to remove the announcements of the extension
from its website, then interfered to shorten the duration of the order, despite substantial evidence
that cruise ships have been a major source of coronavirus outbreaks.
16
In May, the Administration reportedly shelved draft CDC guidance for churches and
other places of worship that called for mitigation efforts, such as limiting the size of in-person
gatherings, maintaining distance between attendees, and reopening in phases.17 Weeks later, after
references to phased-in openings had been removed,18 President Trump reversed himself and
ordered the CDC to release the revised guidance, saying, "We've got to open our churches.
People want to go in."19
In July, President Trump and Vice President Pence once again exerted public pressure on
the CDC to revise its guidelines, this time for schools. On July 7, President Trump stated, "we're
very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools…Get open
in the fall. We want your schools open."
20 On July 8, he tweeted, "I disagree with @CDCgov on
their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they
are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!"21 In response,
the CDC issued new guidance documents for schools on July 23, including a statement entitled,
"The Importance of Reopening America's Schools this Fall."
22 The White House reviewed this
statement and reportedly substantially edited at least one of the updated documents.23 As with the
changes to guidelines for cruise ships and houses of worship, the Administration appears to have
prioritized its political interest in reopening over the advice of the CDC's public health experts,
undermining the public credibility of the guidance issued by the agency and making the ongoing
pandemic significantly worse.

15 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "CDC Announces Modifications and Extension of No Sail Order for
All Cruise Ships," April 9, 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/s0409-modifications-extension-no-sailships.html.
16 USA Today, "White House task force quietly softened cruise ship no-sail restrictions after months of industry
deference," Curtis Tate, Morgan Hines, Cara Kelly, and Brett Murphy, April 13, 2020,
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/04/13/coronavirus-cruise-ships-saw-red-flags-amid-chaoticfederal-response/2937001001/.
17 Associated Press, "In reversal, White House tells CDC to post church guidance," Zeke Miller and Mike Stobbe,
May 21, 2020, https://apnews.com/92a389588798ef5fec4a722d6d073955.
18 Christianity Today, "Trump Declares Churches "Essential' as CDC Releases Reopening Guidelines," Elana Schor,
May 22, 2020, https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/may/trump-church-reopening-essential-religiousfreedom.html.
19 Associated Press, "In reversal, White House tells CDC to post church guidance," Zeke Miller and Mike Stobbe,
May 21, 2020, https://apnews.com/92a389588798ef5fec4a722d6d073955.
20 NPR, "Trump Pledges to "Pressure' Governors to Reopen Schools Despite Health Concerns," Barbara Sprunt,
July 7, 2020, https://www.npr.org/2020/07/07/888157257/white-house-pushes-to-reopen-schools-despite-a-surge-incoronavirus-cases.
21 Donald J. Trump, July 8, 2020, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1280857657365200902.
22 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Statement on the Importance of Reopening America's Schools this
Fall," Updated July 23, 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schoolschildcare/index.html.
23 Washington Post, "CDC director concedes schools in "hot spots' face tougher call on reopening," Laura Meckler
and Rachel Weiner, July 24, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/cdc-director-concedes-schools-inhot-spots-face-tougher-call-on-reopening/2020/07/24/273ee068-cdd8-11ea-b0e3-d55bda07d66a_story.html.
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also faced political pressure from the
Trump Administration. In March, President Trump declared the malaria drug
hydroxychloroquine a "game changer" against COVID-19 and called on FDA to "put [it] in use
IMMEDIATELY."
24 On March 28, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for
use of the drug in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Less than a month later, on April 24, the
FDA cautioned that it was aware of reports of "serious heart rhythm problems in patients with
COVID-19 treated with hydroxychloroquine," and that the drug had "not been shown to be safe
or effective" for treating COVID-19.
25 The FDA revoked the hydroxychloroquine EUA
altogether on June 15. Trump advisor Peter Navarro criticized the revocation of the EUA, calling
it "a Deep State blindside by bureaucrats who hate the administration they work for more than
they're concerned about saving American lives."26 The former director of the Biomedical
Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), Dr. Rick Bright, has since filed a
whistleblower complaint, detailing pressure from the White House and Administration officials
to direct resources toward this unproven and ineffective treatment in violation of the terms of the
EUA.
27 These events raise concerns about whether the Trump Administration will respect the
scientific process around approval or authorization of COVID-19 vaccines, with President
Trump already pushing for a vaccine to be ready before Election Day.
28
A PRAC Investigation Into Partisan Interference in the Country's
Coronavirus Response Is Needed
These incidents, singly and collectively, reveal numerous ongoing examples of partisan
and political interference in public health and emergency response decisions by President Trump
and those working for him. And President Trump's politicization of and resistance to maskwearing as a necessary preventative measure presents just one example where the consequences
of his actions have had direct and deadly consequences.29
A sweeping review of the failed U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic concluded
that:

24 ABC News, "Timeline: Tracking Trump alongside scientific developments on hydroxychloroquine," Libby
Cathey, August 8, 2020, https://abcnews.go.com/Health/timeline-tracking-trump-alongside-scientific-developmentshydroxychloroquine/story?id=72170553.
25 Food and Drug Administration, "FDA cautions against use of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine for COVID-19
outside of the hospital setting or a clinical trial due to risk of heart rhythm problems," April 24, 2020,
https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-cautions-against-use-hydroxychloroquine-orchloroquine-covid-19-outside-hospital-setting-or
26 New York Times, "A Mad Scramble to Stock Millions of Malaria Pills, Likely for Nothing," Sheryl Gay Stolberg,
June 16, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/us/politics/trump-hydroxychloroquinecoronavirus.html?smid=tw-share.
27 U.S. Office of Special Counsel Complaint of Prohibited Personnel Practice or Other Prohibited Activity, filed by
Dr. Rick Bright, https://context-cdn.washingtonpost.com/notes/prod/default/documents/6bfde4d6-4c3d-4671-8eeb6b3d39e47c03/note/26f73d7a-d060-4c25-af4c-a58a167ee2c7.#page=1
28 CNN, "Trump's dreams of a vaccine as his October Surprise aren't rooted in reality," Stephen Collinson, August
7, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/07/politics/donald-trump-vaccines-election-2020/index.html.
29 Vox, "Why masks are (still) politicized in America," Anna North, July 22, 2020,
https://www.vox.com/2020/7/21/21331310/mask-masks-trump-covid19-rule-georgia-alabama.
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[T]he poor results in the United States stem in substantial measure from the
performance of the Trump administration. In no other high-income country --
and in only a few countries, period -- have political leaders departed from expert
advice as frequently and significantly as the Trump administration. President
Trump has said the virus was not serious; predicted it would disappear; spent
weeks questioning the need for masks; encouraged states to reopen even with
large and growing caseloads; and promoted medical disinformation. In recent
days, Mr. Trump has continued the theme.30
The PRAC is charged with conducting oversight of the coronavirus response to "(1)
prevent and detect fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement; and (2) mitigate major risks that cut
across program and agency boundaries."
31 It is increasingly clear that President Trump's
politicization of the coronavirus public health emergency constitutes a major risk that could
affect every program and agency involved in the pandemic response.
Americans are seeking trustworthy, objective information and leadership to help them
navigate this unprecedented crisis, but the administration's repeated prioritization of President
Trump's political interests calls into question the integrity of every action of the federal
government. These failures have resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans, and
threaten to leave the country with an unabated tragedy. It will be impossible to develop an
effective federal response until this partisan interference is addressed and public trust can be
restored. We therefore urge you to undertake a comprehensive investigation of partisan and
political interference in the Trump Administration's response to the pandemic.
Thank you for your consideration of this urgent matter.
Sincerely,

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