Trump adviser Peter Navarro tore into Dr. Rick Bright during a Fox News appearance Thursday after Bright testified on Capitol Hill.
Bright ripped the Trump administration during his testimony, claiming “lives were lost” due to the president’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. (RELATED: Flashback: Remember When The Media Predicted Trump Would Start World War III?)
“I find it highly ironic that you’ve got Bright up there on Capitol Hill issuing these dire warnings on the very day President Trump is going to the beautiful Lehigh Valley to announce a tougher, smarter, more resilient strategic national stockpile,” Navarro said.
Navarro continued to rip Bright, calling him a “deserter in the war on the China virus.”
“He’s not just a disgruntled employee, in my judgment. He is a deserter in the war on the China virus,” Navarro said. “Why do I say that? Those are harsh words. He had a chance. He was asked to go over to NIH and lead a $1 billion initiative to get testing to the people of America, and he refused to do that.”
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Bright previously served as the director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) in the Health and Human Services Department (HHS), but claims he was demoted after expressing skepticism about hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug that has been touted by President Donald Trump and some medical experts as a treatment for the coronavirus. (RELATED: Infectious Disease Expert Says Anti-Malaria Drug Marks ‘Beginning Of The End’ Of Pandemic)
“The idea that this White House wasn’t moving as fast as it could from January 30th, when the President took that courageous decision, this is politics,” Navarro said, referring to Trump’s decision to ban travel from China in late January. “This is a disgruntled Obama employee on The Hill.”
The president attacked Bright ahead of his testimony Thursday, saying he “should no longer be working for our government.”
“I don’t know the so-called Whistleblower Rick Bright, never met him or even heard of him,” Trump said on Twitter. “To me he is a disgruntled employee, not liked or respected by people I spoke to and who, with his attitude, should no longer be working for our government!”