Federal Watchdog Finds Trump Admin. Violated Whistleblower Law by Demoting Vaccine Expert Who Objected to ‘Cronyism’

A federal watchdog found that there were “reasonable grounds” to conclude the Trump administration retaliated against its own vaccine development expert by abruptly demoting him when he objected to “cronyism” in the White House coronavirus response.

According to a new report in the New York Times, the Office of Special Counsel advised the lawyers of Dr. Rick Bright on Thursday night that his whistleblower complaint passed an initial threshold of evidence supporting his claim. Bright, who had been the head of the federal government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, was stripped of that job three weeks ago and reassigned to an ambiguous position with the National Institutes of Health. He claims the move was punishment for his internal pushback to the President Donald Trump’s very public promotion of the unproven drug hyrdoxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19.

Bright’s attorneys, Debra S. Katz and Lisa J. Banks, confirmed that the Office of Special Counsel, charged with protecting whistleblowers from payback or retribution, told them that the Department of Health and Human Services “violated the Whistleblower Protection Act by removing Dr. Bright from his position because he made protected disclosures in the best interest of the American public.”

When Trump has been challenged about the decision to remove his administration’s lead vaccine scientist during the middle of a global pandemic, the president has responded by casting doubt on Bright’s intelligence and expertise and then dismissing the scientist’s complaints and labeling him a “disgruntled” employee.

The watchdog’s recommendation, it should be noted, is not legally binding and is instead more of an example of best practices. One year ago, it likewise ruled that the Trump White House presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway broke federal law when she used her government position to promote political events. Trump never addressed the finding and did not fire Conway.