Recently, the former head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, Rick Bright, was ousted from his position. He subsequently filed a whistleblower complaint with the Office of Special Counsel against the Trump administration alleging that he was demoted from his position for trying to “prioritize science and safety over political expediency.”
This all ultimately led to Donald Trump doing what Donald Trump always does and labeling Bright as a “disgruntled” ex-employee. However, Bright is having none of it.
In a preview for an interview Bright conducted with CBS, the former head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority fired back at Trump:
I am not disgruntled. I am frustrated at a lack of leadership. I am frustrated at a lack of urgency to get a head start on developing lifesaving tools for Americans. I’m frustrated at our inability to be heard as scientists. Those things frustrate me.”
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Bright served as the head of the agency that was working diligently to fund potential treatments for infectious diseases but found himself kicked out of his position in late April, amid the coronavirus catastrophe.
In his whistleblower complaint, Bright specifically pointed out his refusal to tout the anti-malarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19 with little to no evidence, despite Trump’s blind peddling of the medications.
During a press conference earlier this week, Trump attacked Rick Bright as “disgruntled” and, as usual, claimed that he never even knew the guy.
“I never met Dr. Bright. I don’t know who he is. I didn’t hear good things about him. I did not hear good things about him at all,” Trump said of Bright. “And to me he seems like a disgruntled employee that’s trying to help the Democrats win an election.”
Rick didn’t waver from his criticism of Trump and his administration during the CBS interview.
“We see too many doctors and nurses now dying,” he stated. “And I was thinking that we could have done more to get those masks and those supplies to them sooner. And if we had, would they still be alive today?”
“It’s a horrible thought to think about the time that passed where we could’ve done something and we didn’t.”
You can watch the clip here:
Featured image via screen capture
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