News

Whistleblower Rick Bright Says Trump Officials Ignored COVID-19 Warnings: ‘We’re In Deep S–t!’

Rick Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, told Congress Thursday that the Department of Health and Human Services ignored warnings about a supply shortage of personal protective equipment in the months leading up to the coronavirus pandemic.

Bright testified that emails from Mike Bowen, head of Prestige Ameritech, a major surgical mask supplier, warned of impending shortages but went ignored.

“I’ll never forget the emails I received from Mike Bowen indicating that our mask supply, our N-95 respirator supply was completely decimated,” Bright said. “And he said, ‘We’re in deep shit. The world is.’”


According to Bright’s whistleblower complaint, he first began warning HHS officials of coronavirus-related concerns towards the end of January.

Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter!

A week of political news in your in-box.
We find the news you need to know, so you don't have to.

He suggested a meeting on Jan. 23, saying that coronavirus may already be in the U.S. and that he would need additional funding to stop its spread. The same day, a HHS spokesperson said the coronavirus was ruled a low threat to the U.S. by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The complaint says that HHS official Bryan Shuy “later told Dr. Bright that his request for urgent funding at the meeting on January 23[rd] set off ‘quite a shit storm’ after the meeting.'”

“Mr. Shuy further relayed to Dr. Bright he had offended HHS leadership by pushing for urgent funding…” the complaint reads. “According to Mr. Shuy, HHS leadership believed that BARDA already had a sizable budget, albeit nothing specifically for COVID-19, and that he should not have asked for additional resources to address the virus.”

Bright’s complaint alleges that Bowen continued to warn HHS officials that there were not enough masks to go around, but no action was taken.

“From that moment, I knew that we were going to have a crisis for our health care workers,” Bright testified. “We were not taking action. We were already behind the ball.”


During Bowen’s testimony, he was questioned by Rep. Greg Walden (R-Oregon), who referenced a Jan. 31 email in which he said he would sell masks to the federal government “if and only if the VA and DoD become my customers after this thing is over.”

Bowen replied that scaling production would require onboarding new employees, and he did not want to fire them once the demand was met.

Bright warned Thursday that the U.S. could face its “darkest winter in modern history” due to missteps in handling the virus outbreak.


“The window is closing to address this pandemic because we still do not have a standard centralized coordinated plan to take this nation through this response,” he said.

CORONAVIRUS FAQ: WIKI OF MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 

Katherine Huggins

Share
Published by
Katherine Huggins

Recent Posts

GOP Budget Bill Changes Name Of Proposed Children’s Savings Plan To ‘Trump Accounts’ From ‘MAGA Accounts’

The GOP megabudget bill proposes to create savings accounts for American babies born during President…

14 hours ago

Floyd Brown Fired As Kennedy Center V.P. Over Anti-LGBTQ Comments Calling Same-Sex Marriage ‘Godless’

Floyd Brown, former vice president of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and longtime…

16 hours ago

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ‘Disappointed’ Trump Is Considering Pardons For Men Who Attempted To Kidnap & Kill Her

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Michigan) said she is “disappointed” that President Donald Trump is looking into…

16 hours ago

Trump Pardons Notorious Gang Leader Larry Hoover After Kanye West’s Intervention

President Donald Trump has pardoned the federal life sentence of Larry Hoover, one of Chicago’s…

1 day ago

Justice Dept. Launches Investigation Into Another Trump Enemy, Former N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, As He Runs For NYC Mayor

The U.S. Justice Department recently opened a criminal investigation into former New York Gov. Andrew…

1 day ago

Trump Bashes California & Gov. Gavin Newsom For Allowing Transgender Athletes To Compete

President Donald Trump threatened to cut off federal funding from California for allegedly violating his…

1 day ago