Health Official to Take Leave of Absence After He Attacked Federal Scientists – The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Michael R. Caputo, the embattled top spokesman of the Department of Health and Human Services, will take a leave of absence “to focus on his health and the well-being of his family,” the department announced on Wednesday, three days after Mr. Caputo accused federal scientists of “sedition.”

A science adviser Mr. Caputo hired to help him, Dr. Paul Alexander, will be leaving the department.

The announcement came after Mr. Caputo posted a bizarre and inflammatory Facebook video in which he accused government scientists of working to defeat President Trump and urged his followers to buy ammunition ahead of what he predicted would be an armed insurrection after the election.

It also followed disclosures over the weekend that he and Dr. Alexander had tried to water down or delay official reports of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to bolster Mr. Trump’s message that the pandemic is under control.

Mr. Caputo, a Trump loyalist installed by the White House in April as the assistant secretary of health for public affairs, apologized on Tuesday to his staff and to Alex M. Azar II, the department’s leader, for his Facebook soliloquy. Among other things, he spoke to his followers of his declining mental health and his fear that he might be killed by an anti-administration zealot.

In a statement, Mr. Caputo said he was pursuing “necessary screenings for a lymphatic issue discovered last week.” He said his health concerns “contributed to my stress level, along with the increasing number of violent threats leveled at me and my family.”

Since his arrival at the department, Mr. Caputo, a former Trump campaign aide, had worked aggressively to develop a media strategy on the pandemic. But critics, including some within the administration, complained that he was promoting the president’s political interests over public health.

His Facebook talk, which The New York Times disclosed on Monday, was filled with ominous references to the postelection period, when he said there would be a standoff over who won the White House and “the shooting will begin.” Although he praised Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the C.D.C.’s director, as a close friend, he was contemptuous of the agency’s scientists.

He said they had formed a “resistance unit” determined to undercut Mr. Trump, accused them of “rotten science” and said “they haven’t gotten out of their sweatpants” except to plot against the president at coffee shops.

Dr. Redfield, appearing Wednesday at a Senate hearing, said he was “deeply saddened” by Mr. Caputo’s attacks on C.D.C. scientists, calling them “false” and offensive. “The C.D.C. is made up of thousands of dedicated men and women, highly competent,” he said. “It is the premier public health agency in the world.”

Mr. Caputo, in his Facebook video, also said his mental health was failing, he was under siege by the media and he might end up being killed because of his government role. He defended Dr. Alexander as “a genius,” saying the public criticism of his aide’s actions had only served to solidify his role at the health department.

“They will not move me,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere. You know why? Because the president of the United States supports me. And what I’m doing is good for you and good for your family.”

Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, dodged a reporter’s question Wednesday about whether the administration would welcome Mr. Caputo back after his leave ends about two weeks after the November election. “I’m not going to weigh into any personnel matters,” she said.

Several high-ranking Democrats this week called for Mr. Caputo’s firing, including Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, who leads a subcommittee that controls funding of health programs.

Ryan Murphy, a communications official at the Health and Human Services Department, will fill in for Mr. Caputo, the agency said. Mr. Murphy held the position before the White House dispatched Mr. Caputo to the department in an effort to more carefully monitor and shape what its officials told the media.

Mr. Caputo’s influence was underscored on Wednesday by Dr. Redfield, who told a Senate appropriations subcommittee that the White House Office of Management and Budget and the health department had ordered him to transfer $300 million from his agency’s budget to the department. Of that, $250 million was to be spent on a public-relations campaign directed by Mr. Caputo, a senior health department official said.

Dr. Redfield said that the C.D.C. had not been consulted on the substance of the program. “I would assume that they would want our instruction to do all of that, but we haven’t been involved in this,” he said.

Mr. Caputo told his Facebook audience that the campaign was intended “to bring America back.” He also said that the program “was demanded of me by the president of the United States, personally.”