Trump Calls Whistleblower Dr. Bright a ‘Creep’ and Lashes Out at Norah O’Donnell For 60 Minutes Interview
President Donald Trump once again lashed out at 60 Minutes Sunday night for its coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, this time for an interview Norah O’Donnell conducted with a government whistleblower.
O’Donnell interviewed Dr. Rick Bright, the ousted director of a federal vaccine agency, who testified before the House last week that the administration was slow to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and pushed him out of his position for political reasons. That prompted a whistleblower complaint which has called into question the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic.
“Dr. Rick Bright is the highest-ranking government scientist to charge the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been slow and chaotic. He says it has prioritized politics over science, and has cost people their lives,” O’Donnell reported on 60 Minutes. “It has cost Dr. Bright his job.”
In the interview, Bright said he was removed from his post in retaliation for cautioning against the effectiveness of hydrochloroquine as a treatment for coronavirus. He also warned, “We don’t yet have a national strategy to respond fully to this pandemic.”
“The best scientists that we have in our government who are working really hard to try to figure this out aren’t getting that clear, cohesive leadership, strategic plan message yet,” Bright told CBS. “Until they get that, it’s still gonna be chaotic.”
Trump previously slimed Bright as a “disgruntled employee.” In his tweets attacking the CBS News show Sunday night, he labelled the scientist a “creep” and baselessly accused him of being a partisan who “fabricates stories” and “spews lies.”
Trump also took aim at O’Donnell, urging Shari Redstone, the chairwoman of CBS’s parent company, to “take a look” the anchor of CBS Evening News and her colleagues.
….spews lies. @60Minutes report was incorrect, which they couldn’t care less about. Fake News! I don’t know this guy, never met him, but don’t like what I see. How can a creep like this show up to work tomorrow & report to @SecAzar, his boss, after trashing him on T.V.?….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2020
….This whole Whistleblower racket needs to be looked at very closely, it is causing great injustice & harm. I hope you are listening @SenSusanCollins I also hope that Shari Redstone will take a look at her poorly performing gang. She knows how to make things right!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2020
Trump, apparently a dedicated viewer of 60 Minutes, had previously lashed out at the CBS News program just last week, after it aired an in-depth report on the “disinformation campaign” hampering his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
