ICYMI: Clyburn Joins the Rachel Maddow Show to Discuss Trump Administration’s Assault on CDC and Politicization of Coronavirus Response

Washington, D.C. (October 17, 2022) – Today, Rep. James E. Clyburn, Chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, joined the Rachel Maddow Show to discuss a recently released staff report detailing efforts by the Trump Administration to compromise the scientific integrity of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) coronavirus response in an attempt to serve the former President’s political goals. 

“We had a two-year investigation. We attempted to pull back the curtains, so that the people can see exactly what was taking place. We knew from general reports, there is some kind of interference taking place. We had no idea the extent to which this [the Trump] Administration was going in suppressing information, submitting misinformation, doing whatever they could to make that administration look better than they should have looked,” said Chairman Clyburn.

“These are [CDC] scientists. These are people who believe that their purpose is to protect the American people. We had the worst medical problem in this country in 100 years, and they were dedicated to learning from past experiences and doing the things that were necessary to protect the public. They were not prepared to have to deal with political interference,” continued Chairman Clyburn. “Their job is to simply do the research, do the science, inform the public, and then hopefully the leadership will be there by the politicians to do what’s necessary to protect the public. Instead, they had their information supplanted and deleted and in many instances they were insulted and embarrassed.”

Click here to view Chairman Clyburn’s interview with Rachel Maddow.

Click here to view Rachel Maddow summarize sections of the report earlier in the program.

Click here to read the report.