NYT Story About Ousted HHS Director Rick Bright Starts To Crumble Almost Instantly
By: Rick Bright (dailycaller)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A report Wednesday from the New York Times about a top vaccine expert at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) who claims he was fired for opposing hydroxychloroquine has quickly fallen apart.
Rick Bright, former director of the Department of Health and Human Services' Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority [BARDA], said he was dismissed from his position because he opposed hydroxychloroquine. This is the anti-malarial drug that has been touted by President Donald Trump as a possible coronavirus treatment.
NYT reporters Michael D. Shear and Maggie Haberman pushed Bright's "scorching statement" following his dismissal, but heavily downplayed other key reports that contradict the former director's claims.
Bright requested that the Food and Drug Administration [FDA] "issue an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for emergency use of oral formulations of chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine sulfate for the treatment of 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19)" in March, according to a press release from the FDA on March 28.
Bright's request calls into question the claim that he was removed due to "his internal opposition to pursuing investments in malaria drugs as potential treatments for Covid-19," as Politico pointed out Wednesday. The NYT piece only notes Bright's request in the form of two quotes, failing to expand on it, although it seems to negate Bright's claims.
"While I am prepared to look at all options and to think 'outside the box' for effective treatments, I rightly resisted efforts to provide an unproven drug on demand to the American public," Bright said according to the NYT. "I insisted that these drugs be provided only to hospitalized patients with confirmed Covid-19 while under the supervision of a physician."
An HHS statement, included in the NYT and Politico's report, alludes to Bright's request as well. The NYT still did not highlight the FDA's March press release.
"As it relates to chloroquine, it was Dr. Bright who requested an Emergency Use Authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for donations of chloroquine that Bayer and Sandoz recently made to the Strategic National Stockpile for use on Covid-19 patients," HHS spokeswoman Caitlin Oakley said. "The E.U.A. is what made the donated product available for use in combating Covid-19."
Politico's Dan Diamond highlighted the HHS official's statement "that Bright played a role in acquiring malaria drugs for the Trump administration." He added that it is worth nothing "some federal officials have felt wrongly pressured by Trump's push."
"A person familiar with Dr. Bright's account said that Dr. Bright was pressured to rush access to the drug after the president and Larry Ellison, the chairman and chief technology officer of Oracle, had a conversation about chloroquines," according to the NYT.
The FDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller regarding Bright's request.
Bright's request is not publicly available, so it not yet entirely clear what his exact thoughts on the drug's potential was. The FDA's response to Bright, which is not quoted by the NYT, is publicly available.
The FDA granted Bright's request and the HHS "accepted 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine sulfate" donations one day later, journalist Jeryl Bier pointed out. This is not highlighted in the NYT report. (RELATED: They Attacked Trump For Touting 'Unproven Drugs,' Now The NYT Is Reporting It Can Help With Coronavirus)
At the same time the FDA granted Bright's request, "HHS accepted [30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine sulfate] to Strategic National Stockpile as possible treatments for COVID-19 patients"https://t.co/cjFVMvnQJupic.twitter.com/zGoj8POB2q — jerylbier (@JerylBier) April 23, 2020
Haberman and Shear only note that "at the end of March, a division of Novartis, a leading pharmaceutical company, donated 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine sulfate to the health department's stockpile for the possible use of treating Covid-19." The NYT reporters do not link this decision to Bright's "emergency" request.
Aside from the publicly available response from the FDA regarding Bright's request, Politico reported that "three people with knowledge of HHS' recent acquisition of tens of millions of doses of those drugs say that Bright had supported those acquisitions in internal communications."
One of these sources said Bright "praised the move as a win for the health department."
"If Bright opposed hydroxychloroquine, he certainly didn't make that clear from his email — quite the opposite," one official who saw copies of relevant email exchanges said according to Politico.
He says "he insisted"… I do not have the text of his request, but the FDA's response puts the limitations he mentioned today as a condition for the approval back in March.https://t.co/ZKZJB17v32pic.twitter.com/bJOnpSh59F — jerylbier (@JerylBier) April 23, 2020
Another note that appears to throw cold water on Bright's claims is buried in the NYT report.
Trump administration officials said that Bright "clashed repeatedly" with Dr. Robert Kadlec, the assistant health secretary for preparedness and response, according to the NYT. He was "a polarizing figure" within HHS and a discussion regarding his removal began months ago. This is included towards the end of the NYT report.
"The move was more than a year in the making — Bright had clashed with department leaders about his decisions and the scope of his authority — but came abruptly, said five current and former HHS officials," Politico reported.
Diamond expanded on this counter-argument, noting that "Trump appointees had been trying to oust Bright for more than a year, unhappy with his management. POLITICO first learned about those disputes last year, before the Covid-19 outbreak hit the U.S."
Diamond included text exchange dating back to Jan. 2 from an "individual with knowledge of those fights" that reads Bright "is not long for his job." The NYT story has not yet been updated with this additional information, which further disputes Bright's claims on why he was removed from the position.
The Trump administration has been working to oust Bright since last year, as officials battled with him over his management and leadership.
With permission, sharing this time-stamped text from individual with knowledge of those fights. pic.twitter.com/ExYILm1pQI
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) April 22, 2020
Haberman and Shear also note at the very end of their report that Bright is being represented by the lawyers who represented Christine Blasey Ford. Debra Katz and Lisa Bank, the attorneys, pushed an unproven accusation against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh that upended his confirmation process.
The NYT and the HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller.
Editor's Note: This piece incorrectly stated that journalist Jeryl Bier works for Politico and has since been updated.
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The disgraced Times caught again!
Nonsense. The news story is that Bright says he was removed from his job because he objected to pushing an untested drug as a treatment.
That is what the NYT reported. Dr Bright put out a full and somewhat lengthy statement , separate from any NYT article. The NYT story accurately reflected Bright's position.
This Daily Caller is just throwing a pile of nothing at the wall and hoping it sticks.
Bright alleged he was removed for political reasons, that is what the NYT reported , and it will be investigated by Congress.
Just like Jussie Smollett claimed he was the victim of a "racist attack?"
Let me elaborate on what you missed:
"NYT reporters Michael D. Shear and Maggie Haberman pushed Bright's "scorching statement" following his dismissal, but heavily downplayed other key reports that contradict the former director's claims."
For those who have forgotten, Maggie Haberman was one of the Times reporters who knew that the Steele Dossier was funded by the Clinton's, yet she wrote about the Dossier claims anyway. Oddly enough, it was Clinton Campaign lawyer, Marc Elias, who kept warning her "you are wrong."
The Daily Caller is a joke source, it's only a few steps above InfoWars in terms of competence and reliability.
Oh really? Are you the new media rater for NT?
In other words, DEFLECTION....
not far below Fox News.
Again, THE STORY was the fact that Bright said he had been reassigned for political reasons. That was the story. The NYT story was not an investigation, it was a report on what Bright alleged.
I didnt miss anything, I understand completely what the story was about.
Evidently others dont.
More likely that he was removed because he is an Obama era hire.
That is the opinion of Shelby Talcott, a "Retired college and professional athlete, big fan of dogs and mimosas without the OJ" according to her page on the Daily Caller.
I read the entire article and no where does it actually provide any proof that the NYT's article was inaccurate or misleading. All it has are disparate opinions and spurious claims that some of the requests sent by Bright weren't opposing the request to use the untested drug, yet even those persons had to admit that they "do not have the text of his request" thus making it impossible to actually verify their unfounded opinions.
It's sad that some half wit conservative authors like Shelby Talcott continue to circle their wagons around the most incompetent President in modern history, and even more sad that some folk intentionally regurgitate this mental bile on others by linking it on other discussions sites.
The media bias chart according to whom? Media Matters?
Again, THAT IS NOT JOURNALISM. A story is always supposed to be vetted, questioned and carefully examined. What Brights says is never a story. They don't do that when the President says something. He makes a statement and we have an editorial attached!!!!
I didnt miss anything
Your'e simply trying to make excuses for a bunch of lying weasels.
If that's the case he should have been removed the day after the inauguration. As I said back then all the Obama appointees throughout government should have been removed. Some are trusting souls, I guess.
I'm so glad!
no where does it actually provide any proof that the NYT's article was inaccurate or misleading.
How can it be inaccurate if it simply prints what one person says? As in O J Simpson saying "I didn't do it." End of story!
All it has are disparate opinions and spurious claims that some of the requests sent by Bright weren't opposing the request to use the untested drug, yet even those persons had to admit that they "do not have the text of his request" thus making it impossible to actually verify their unfounded opinions.
What it sorely lacked was any proof that anything Bright said was true! Thus, we can conclude that the story was simply another hit job on Donald Trump.
It's sad
It's is sad that the hateful, deceitful left gets to run stories like this!
BTW Politico is ranked highly on that chart and they had this story before the Daily Caller.
"I didnt miss anything, I understand completely what the story was about. "
Of course you didn't!(/s). You saw a NYT article that bashed the president and/or his administration and decide that it had to be totally accurate. It doesn't matter that it comes from a source that has been dicrefitted and proved to publish falsehoods when it concerns the president. That there is evidence provided that shows the article to be inaccurate doesn't matter. As long as is makes the president look bad you will buy it lock, stock and barrel.
If the NYT is a group of lying weasels, then, as a sincere stockholder,
I will heartily recommend the next former POTUS to be the NYT Editor in Chief.
He has taken lying, misspeaking and half truths to a new height in my opinion.
coffeve.
You can check the site
It has in-depth info regarding it's mission and methodology.
Media = Champions of …… "The Twist" !
As somebody famous said yesterday "If only we had an honest press."
The start of 24/365 news? ended that concept !
It reached point of no return on June 16, 2015. We lost all our trust in the media.
It's really amazing how partisan they've become. The press has tilted liberal since the 60s, but they used to have some sort of aspiration towards being objective reporters of fact that kept up the veneer of neutrality. Now it's pure partisanship.
At least people recognize it now.
I take it with a grain of "Salt". A very SMALL Grain.
What’s even worse is how many people out there that just automatically eat that BS up with a spoon without any critical thought. I try to watch a balanced portion of news from both sides but it’s gotten increasingly harder to do so with how bad the mass media has gotten.
Some of it is truly puke worthy.
You bet they do - as reflected in the polling:
I sometimes tune in to MSNBC just to watch the blatant dishonesty or CNN for the absurdity.
Who is "we" Kemosabe?
Most Americans actually.
I could offer up numerous links that show exactly that but we both know it won’t matter to the people here who think the mass media is righteous.
That would be the decent folks, you know the ones who get ticketed & deleted simply for challenging others to make a bet on their predictions.
Most implies a majority. All polls are dubious but none shows any group of "we" in the majority.
Speaking for others is always a foolish mistake.
When I want to see blatant dishonesty and absurdity I just read one of your seeds. This one is a perfect example.
every night I run through the channels and see how long i can listen to Hannity insulting DiBlasio, Coumo or Obama by calling them commies, leftist liberal progressive scum etc.
Shit I read here every day....
TC isn't as bad , I might linger for a minute in awe of the crap going out on free cable news everywhere in the disguise as news ....
If Shannon Breame has Fauci or Birx on it may be worth watching a bit longer,
but truthfully it reminds me of the outer limits, even WH staff seem uneasy on Fox.
I can always tell people that only watch fox.
They always start parroting what they hear.
I didn't know Carlson was a Swanson tv dinner heir. It makes it all the more comical when he calls others privileged.
The majority that doesn’t trust the media isn’t implied. It’s a well known fact. Just one more way the liberal left deludes itself by thinking otherwise.
This is one of many examples I can give you but like I predicted. You won’t accept the reality of that. Since it doesn’t fit the preferred narrative you like to push here. No amount of empirical data will be enough if it disagrees with that narrative.
It's amazing how easy it is to highlight the media dishonesty. Two for two today!
True, you seeded a prime example of the Daily Caller actively practicing media dishonesty by erroneously claiming the NYT article was somehow flawed when the facts show it was clearly accurate. It would be great if these sad conservative rags would stop pushing these obviously bogus opinion pieces written by a self admitted "retired college and professional athlete, big fan of dogs and mimosas without the OJ" as real news.
If you really had a case, you wouldn't have to personally attack people rather than defend the newspaper that has lied continuously for 3 years.
Back in a few.
That is FALSE. Here is a link to the March 28 FDA press release and it doesn't say a fucking thing about an EUA request for chloroquine phosphate and h ydroxychloroquine sulfate.
Neither HHS or the FDA have released any evidence to support that claim. The FDA's EUA authorization doesn't say a word about HOW the SNS should or will acquire a supply of chloroquine phosphate or hydroxychloroquine sulfate. In short, there is no proof that Bright's request has ANY connection with donations of any kind.
Perhaps that's because their is no EVIDENCE that they are linked.
So Daily Caller is editorializing what Politico editorialized that Reuters reported and NONE of them actually cite or link an actual statement by Bright himself.
Reuters reported:
BTFW, your author 'credit' is wrong too.
In other words where the request came from is not listed on the website! The E.U.A. didn't mention who made the request!
So Daily Caller is editorializing what Politico editorialized that Reuters reported and NONE of them actually cite or link an actual statement by Bright himself.
Thank you for pointing out that this isn't just the Daily Caller!
So, once again, I will save your claim, just like I did with the Steele Dossier and Cohen being in Prague. This time when everyone has to concede the simple fact that Bright is another Trump-hating official, who got caught, I will devote an entire article to your claim, which is based on the fact that the FDA didn't take the unusual measure of actually naming who made the request!
No 'in other words' Vic. The ONLY request that Bright made was for the FDA to issue a EUA. PERIOD, full stop. The evidence of that is in the EUA itself, which does NOT address where or how to acquire supplies of chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine sulfate.
As is your regular practice of late, you are misrepresenting my comment. The Daily Caller is misrepresenting what Politico editorialized that Reuters reported someone else said. In short, the Daily Caller's statement was bullshit.
Save what you want Vic. I can't wait to read another one of your captivating seeds. /s
Do you think I should be saving your citation claiming that Rick Bright wrote a hit piece about himself for Daily Caller?
From your seed:
But that wasn't good enough for top Administration officials.
Then the AX fell today, less than a month after Trump Administration officials insisted that chloroquine should 'go to pharmacies' for wide distribution, the FDA put out an ALERT: