The president's political aides have successfully demanded to review and, in some cases, modify weekly Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports on the coronavirus to better align scientific reports with Trump's upbeat messages, Politico reported. While CDC health professionals have resisted the most sweeping changes, they have increasingly allowed reviews of the reports, and in some cases edits and delays. They tried to halt the release of some CDC reports altogether and successfully delayed a report on hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug touted by Trump to treat COVID-19 despite questionable evidence. Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., blasted the "doctoring of CDC reports" on the virus and said the GOP "is unfit to govern and a threat to your life." HHS released a new statement Saturday that didn't address the reporting on interfering with CDC reports, but praised Trump's openmindedness to science.

Source: Fox News September 13, 2020 01:07 UTC