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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 11 december 2020
Probe: CDC official says she was ordered to delete email

By RICARDO ALONSO- tween White House officials
ZALDIVAR and Azar. Caputo and Al-
Associated Press exander represented the
WASHINGTON (AP) — A White House at HHS, a bu-
senior manager with the reaucracy that President
Centers for Disease Control Donald Trump was deeply
and Prevention told con- suspicious of.
gressional investigators she Kent occupies a high
was ordered to delete an perch in that bureaucracy
email suggesting attempt- as CDC's chief of scientific
ed political interference by publications and editor-
the Trump administration in in-chief of Morbidity and
coronavirus reports to the Mortality Weekly Report, or
public, according to a tran- MMWR, a publication that
script released Thursday. tracks disease trends of in-
Rep. James Clyburn, D- terest to the medical com-
S.C., who released the munity.
partial transcript, said the MMWR has become a
testimony of Dr. Charlotte flashpoint for controversy
Kent raises "serious concern under Trump. According
about what may be delib- to documents released by
erate efforts by the Trump Clyburn's committee, Al-
administration to conceal exander fired off an Aug.
and destroy evidence that Robert Redfield, CDC Director, participates in a rountable discussion on Operation Warp Speed 8 email demanding that
with Vice President Mike Pence at the Air National Guard 164th Airlift Wing on Thursday, Dec. 3,
senior political appointees 2020, in Memphis, Tenn. CDC go back into a scien-
interfered with career offi- Associated Press tific report it had already
cials' response to the coro- published about corona-
navirus crisis." Kent testified Clyburn chairs a special in which he said he had officials are supposed to be virus risks to children and
that she believed CDC Di- House panel empowered instructed agency staffers scrupulous about retaining splice in new language, or
rector Robert Redfield or- to broadly examine the to ignore the email but did records. "pull it down and stop all re-
dered the deletion of the coronavirus crisis and the not mention ordering its de- At issue is what happened ports immediately."
email. government's response. letion. last summer to an email The email went on to say
In a letter to Health and HHS said in a statement that The ranking Republican sent to the CDC from a that "CDC tried to report as
Human Services Secretary Clyburn's committee is "not on the investigative panel, now-departed HHS adviser, if once kids get together,
Alex Azar, Clyburn ac- operating in good faith" Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisi- Dr. Paul Alexander. Working there will be spread and
cused the administration of and called its portrayal of ana, said Democrats have with then-HHS top spokes- this will impact school re-
trying to obstruct his inves- the CDC official's testimony found "zero evidence of person Michael Caputo, opening.
tigation and threatened to "irresponsible." actual interference in CDC Alexander was brought "Very misleading by CDC
issue subpoenas to compel HHS also released a brief scientific reports." into the department at a and shame on them. Their
the release of documents. statement from Redfield As required by law, federal time of high tension be- aim is clear. q

House committee issues subpoena for Census documents

President Donald Trump is gress' oversight responsibili- College votes each state
blocking the release of full, ties has been abominable," gets in future elections, the
unredacted documents Maloney wrote Ross in an- bureau said in a Dec. 2
she requested about the other letter Thursday. "You statement.
data anomalies. Those ir- have repeatedly withheld The data anomalies repre-
regularities arose during the documents that should sent less than seven-tenths
number-crunching phase have been produced as of 1% of records, accord-
of the once-a-decade a matter of course to your ing to the bureau. But ex-
Census count. Department's oversight perts testifying at a House
The anomalies will likely committee." hearing on Dec. 3 said that
force a delay of several The Commerce Depart- even errors of just tens of
weeks past a Dec. 31 dead- ment did not immediately thousands of people out
line for the Census Bureau respond to a request for of the nation's 330 million
to turn in the congressional comment. Ross has until residents can affect which
In this Aug. 11, 2020, file photo, a census taker knocks on the
door of a residence in Winter Park, Fla. apportionment numbers. Dec. 21 to comply with the states get an extra con-
Associated Press In a letter last week, Malo- subpoena, Maloney said. gressional seat or lose one.
ney wrote that the Com- The Census Bureau said last The House committee has
By ADRIAN SAINZ to upend a yearend dead- merce Department — week that the data irregu- obtained three new inter-
Associated Press line for submitting numbers which oversees the Census larities affect only a tiny nal agency documents
The congressional com- used for divvying up con- Bureau — missed a Nov. percentage of the records showing the Census Bureau
mittee that oversees the gressional seats. 24 deadline to give the and are being resolved plans to deliver the appor-
Census Bureau issued a Democrat U.S. Rep. Caro- documents to the commit- as quickly as possible. The tionment numbers to the
subpoena Thursday to U.S. lyn Maloney, chair of the tee. She threatened a sub- timeline remains in flux for president no earlier than
Commerce Secretary Wil- House Committee on poena if the documents turning in the apportion- Jan. 23, which would be
bur Ross, seeking docu- Oversight and Reform, weren't handed over by ment numbers used for de- shortly after Trump leaves
ments related to data ir- has alleged that the ad- Wednesday. ciding how many congres- office and President-elect
regularities that threaten ministration of Republican "Your approach to Con- sional seats and Electoral Joe Biden takes over. q