HHS spokesman admits he never read CDC reports despite efforts to edit them

It's been a rough few days for Michael Caputo.

The Department of Health and Human Service's communications chief and Trump 2016 campaign official came under fire after a Politico report revealed HHS communications aides sought to have final say over the wording of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the coronavirus pandemic. Then, during a Facebook Live stream, he touted baseless conspiracy theories about a "resistance unit" of scientists within the agency working to undermine President Trump before deactivating his social media in the aftermath.

Caputo on Tuesday called a staff meeting to apologize for drawing negative attention to HHS, Politico reports, during which he apparently hinted that he may step down from the role after he meets with the department's secretary, Alex Azar. In the meeting, Caputo also reportedly admitted that despite his criticism of the CDC and his team's efforts to edit the weekly reports, he never actually read one of them. Read more at Politico.

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