White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said Sunday that whistleblower Richard Bright “deserted” the U.S. in an “American tragedy” when he authored a report criticizing the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Navarro told ABC’s “This Week” that the “quite-talented” Bright was asked to lead as field commander of testing at the National Institutes of Health, “but instead of accepting that mission, he deserted.”
“He went into a fox hole, wrote up the complaint and now he’s part of a Capitol Hill partisan circus where he’s just become another pawn in the game,” he said.
.@GStephanopoulos presses WH adviser Peter Navarro on whistleblower Dr. Rick Bright: “They’re putting him in diagnostic testing. Why shouldn’t a vaccine expert be working on vaccines?”
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) May 17, 2020
Navarro laughs and criticizes Bright, claiming he's a "deserter." https://t.co/vTqcX6SuVX pic.twitter.com/Hk0c1VXa4z
“And the tragedy, ... is this man has talent,” he added. “He’s a smart man. We could have used him on the battlefield. He’s not there now, and it was because of decisions that he made.”
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos
George Robert StephanopoulosThe Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Goldman Sachs - Tipping point week for Trump, Biden, Congress, voters Pelosi: White House made 'unacceptable changes' to testing language during negotiations on coronavirus stimulus Infectious disease expert calls White House advisers herd immunity claims 'pseudoscience' MORE asked Navarro why Bright, whose expertise is vaccines, would work on diagnostic testing. Navarro responded with a laugh, saying he was supposed to focus on trade policy and is now “a conscript in the war on the China virus.”
"We do what we have to do when we have to do it for this country, and Rick Bright – he made a choice,” Navarro said.
The House requested Navarro testify alongside Bright because of the trade adviser’s large role in the whistleblower's complaint.
But the White House said Navarro would not testify last week.
Instead, Bright testified alone last Thursday, saying the country needs a national plan to overcome the coronavirus. The ousted official also said the administration ignored his warnings about supply shortages as early as January.
