Tag
The Food and Drug Administration — the federal agency responsible for food safety, drug approval, and public health regulation. Incidents involve cuts to FDA inspection and oversight programs that endanger public safety.
3 incidents
Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power
Mass layoffs at the FDA driven by the Department of Government Efficiency eliminated over 3,500 staff in 2025, causing foreign food safety inspections to drop by nearly half, outbreak investigations to go unsolved at record rates, and critical programs like avian influenza testing to be halted.
Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power
The Washington Post and New York Times documented a pattern of White House interference with CDC scientific publications. CDC reports in the MMWR — the agency's flagship peer-reviewed publication that had never previously been subject to political review — were reviewed and in some cases altered by Michael Caputo, a political appointee installed at HHS with no public health credentials. Caputo was later placed on leave after a Facebook video in which he accused CDC scientists of a 'resistance unit' against Trump. CDC Director Redfield testified that CDC school reopening guidance was replaced after Trump tweeted that it was 'very tough and expensive.' The FDA's hydroxychloroquine EUA and convalescent plasma approval were both accompanied by documented political pressure.
Grade 1 of 5: Significant Democratic Concern
Trump repeatedly promoted hydroxychloroquine in White House briefings before studies established it was ineffective and potentially dangerous for COVID. He suggested at an April 23, 2020 briefing that injecting disinfectants might work as treatment and asked officials to study inserting UV light 'inside the body.' Governors reported hundreds of calls to poison centers and state health hotlines after the disinfectant comments. The FDA granted hydroxychloroquine an Emergency Use Authorization in March 2020 under White House pressure, then revoked it in June 2020 citing 'serious cardiac adverse events.' His false '35% mortality improvement' claim for convalescent plasma prompted FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn to issue a correction the same day.