The Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) claims that he was demoted over his resistance to the use of Hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19. Rick Bright, PhD., claims that he was retaliated against and has asked that the Inspector General investigate. During the Covid-19 Task Force press conference on Wednesday, President Trump was asked about Dr. Bright.

It was such a quick moment that it went almost unnoticed. A male reporter asked President Trump if Rick Bright was pushed out of his job because he questioned Trump’s directives on Hydroxychloroquine. Trump said he never heard of Bright, but owned that he might or might not have been pushed out of his job. The exchange only lasted thirty seconds. Here it is in full:

This was a classic “gotcha” moment for the press and you can almost see them rubbing their little claws. And, if you read the statement released by Dr. Bright, you might be alarmed. It reads as a damning indictment. Here is a portion:

I believe this transfer was in response to my insistence that the government invest the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the COVID-19 pandemic into safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit. I am speaking out because to combat this deadly virus, science — not politics or cronyism — has to lead the way.

The New York Times, of course, is gleeful in its coverage. The subhead on the Times article about the firing reads, “Rick Bright was abruptly dismissed this week as the director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority”. Here is the opening paragraph:

The official who led the federal agency involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine said on Wednesday that he was removed from his post after he pressed for rigorous vetting of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug embraced by President Trump as a coronavirus treatment, and that the administration had put “politics and cronyism ahead of science.”

Then, near the end of the article, we learn:

Those officials said that there had been discussions about removing Dr. Bright for many months, and that they came to a head after emails were leaked to Reuters last week detailing internal discussions about chloroquines.

“Many months”?

According to Politico.com, the move was at least a year in the making:

Rick Bright, the director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, was transferred to a new, more narrow role at the National Institutes of Health this week, an HHS spokesperson confirmed. The move was more than a year in the making — Bright had clashed with department leaders about his decisions and the scope of his authority — but came abruptly, said five current and former HHS officials.

As for Bright’s supposed opposition to Hydroxychloroquine, that may be a recent conversion. This is from the Politico article:

Three people with knowledge of HHS’ recent acquisition of tens of millions of doses of those drugs said that Bright had supported those acquisitions in internal communications, with one official saying that Bright praised the move as a win for the health department as part of an email exchange that was first reported by Reuters last week, although Bright’s message was not publicly reported.

“If Bright opposed hydroxychloroquine, he certainly didn’t make that clear from his email — quite the opposite,” said the official, who has seen copies of the email exchanges.

It helps if you remember that those at the pinnacle of positions in government, science, technology or most other disciplines have towering egos. Much like President Trump, these people don’t get to the top without rigorous hard work and a healthy ego.

The Trump Administration is claiming that this is more of a lateral move or even promotion, rather than a demotion. Dr. Bright is being asked to move from HHS to the National Institutes of Health:

“Dr. Rick Bright will transfer the skills he has applied as Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to the National Institutes of Health, as part of a bold plan to accelerate the development and deployment of novel point-of-care testing platforms,” an HHS spokesperson said on Tuesday. “Dr. Bright brings extensive experience and expertise in facilitating powerful public-private partnerships that advance the health and well-being of the American people.”

Who on Earth knows? These governmental agencies are labyrinthine and convoluted. Once again though, there is much more to the story about Dr. Bright than the media would have you know. They have to maintain the “Orange Man Bad” narrative. It’s most likely that Donald Trump never had heard of Dr. Bright before yesterday.

Featured Image: Richard Bright, PhD/HHS.Gov/Official Portrait/Public Domain