Michael Caputo slams disgruntled HHS whistleblower's 'attack on President Trump'
Michael Caputo, assistant secretary for public affairs at HHS, joins Laura Ingraham on 'The Ingraham Angle.'
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Former Trump campaign adviser and new Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesman Michael Caputo blasted whistleblower Rick Bright Thursday, claiming he is disgruntled over his "profile" during the coronavirus pandemic.
"I come to work here in Washington 24/7, like everybody else does," Caputo told "The Ingraham Angle." "There are 84,000 people at HHS who are working every day and Dr. Bright, who makes $285,000 a year, can't find his way to work.
"To me, that's just -- I mean, for everybody back in my hometown who are locked down, who are losing their businesses, who aren't able to go to school, that's got to really smell up to high heaven."
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HHS pushed back on Bright’s testimony and whistleblower complaint earlier Thursday, accusing him of "politicizing the response" to coronavirus.
Bright has said he was removed for opposing the use of unproven antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for coronavirus, but the department has claimed Bright was actually a proponent of the drug.
"Everybody I've talked to around here just remembers him being a documented supporter of hydroxychloroquine," Caputo said. "When he's filed his whistleblower complaint, he made it all about that drug because he knew it was a hit right at President Trump. And that's what this is."
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The HHS official then compared Bright to Christine Blasey Ford, who accused then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct during his confirmation process in 2018.
"He's really just a second coming of Christine Blasey Ford," Caputo said. "It's an attack on President Trump. It's an attack on [HHS] Secretary [Alex] Azar. And it's an attempt to really politicize this for November."
Fox News' Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.