WH officials discuss HHS secretary replacement following criticism of pandemic response: WSJ

[mystery-ak]

WH officials discuss HHS secretary replacement following criticism of pandemic response: WSJ
By Marty Johnson - 04/25/20 09:03 PM EDT

Trump administration officials have discussed replacing Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar after his handling of the early days of the coronavirus pandemic has come under fire, six sources familiar with the situation told The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal's sources said that while the administration has expressed apprehension about shaking up top HHS personnel during the pandemic, they did note that frustration with Azar has been building in recent weeks.

The officials, however, didn't indicate to the Journal if a personnel change was imminent.


Earlier this month, President Trump in a tweet said Azar "told me nothing until later," in response to questions about why the president didn't take action against the pandemic earlier.

White House spokesman Judd Deere denied that any kind of firing was forthcoming.

more
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/494680-wh-officials-discuss-hhs-secretary-replacement-following-criticism-of

[mystery-ak]

White House pushes back on reports of HHS Secretary Azar's possible removal
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/wh-considering-replacing-azar-at-hhs-birx-possible-new-head-report

[mystery-ak]

 New HHS Documents Show The Wall Street Journal Missed The Real Story In Its Azar Hit Piece
An interview obtained by The Federalist reveals how the Wall Street Journal badly misled Americans about HHS Secretary Alex Azar's response to the coronavirus outbreak.

By David Marcus
April 24, 2020

Reporters get things wrong in articles all the time — it’s an imperfect world — but usually the most glaring mistakes don’t appear in the first sentence. In a recent Wall Street Journal article about Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar, this dubious feat was actually accomplished.

“On Jan. 29, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told President Trump the coronavirus epidemic was under control,” reads the first sentence of the WSJ report.

Michael Caputo, the assistant secretary for HHS Public Affairs, told The Federalist this flat-out never happened. According to Caputo, “No public health professional would ever say a pathogen is under control. They might use the term of art that it is contained, but the secretary did not say under control.” A good indication that Caputo’s version of events is correct is that the Journal did not put “under control” in quotes to indicate attribution.

Caputo adds, “Every fake news shot at a cabinet secretary is an attempt to destroy the president, and I’m just not going to stand for it.”

more
https://thefederalist.com/2020/04/24/new-hhs-documents-show-the-wall-street-journal-missed-the-real-story-in-its-azar-hit-piece/

[mystery-ak]

Trump denies he's planning to replace HHS chief Azar
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/494746-trump-denies-hes-planning-to-replace-hhs-chief-azar

[Formerly Once-Ler]

Trump denies he's planning to replace HHS chief Azar

Narrator: Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar was of course doomed.