Trump says he's 'never heard of' official leading U.S. coronavirus vaccine effort until abrupt demotion

Trump
(Image credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

Dr. Rick Bright, the career government infectious disease scientist who until Tuesday led a federal effort to create a COVID-19 vaccine, said Wednesday he was demoted and moved to the National Institutes of Health for favoring "science — not politics or cronyism," to combat the virus. "Specifically, and contrary to misguided directives, I limited the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, promoted by the administration as a panacea, but which clearly lack scientific merit," he said. President Trump and his allies spent weeks touting hydroxychloroquine but don't anymore.

Asked about Bright's demotion at Wednesday evening's coronavirus press briefing, Trump pleaded ignorance: "I've never heard of him. Guy says he was pushed out of a job, maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. You'd have to hear the other side. I don't know who he is."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.