oh, FFS

[deminks]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/trump-white-house-made-deliberate-efforts-undermine-covid-response-report-n1286211

(snip)

In addition, Dr. Steven Hatfill, an adviser to former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, “may have declined leads to purchase supplies like N95 masks in the spring 2020 solely because the products were not manufactured in the United States," the subcommittee said.

In a statement provided to NBC on Friday, Hatfill said that the administration began sourcing personal protective equipment in early 2020. He said "the most logical and efficient choice was to seek U.S.-based manufacturers' help."

"At the time, profiteers were peddling defective and fraudulent PPE at inflated prices directly to the public," he said. "Even states such as California and New Mexico fell prey to these schemes, but we had no time to waste at the federal level. Even the shortest delay could cost thousands of lives. That was a risk we were not willing to take. Our choice to buy American goods saved lives and the United States taxpayer's money."

(end snip)

So, this is one of the ones behind nurses wearing trashbags to care for COVID-19 patients in isolation early on, and no HEPA masks, etc. etc. etc. Don't know or remember his past? Google him.

Unfuckingbelievable.

from September:

https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/clyburn-issues-subpoena-to-trump-white-house-advisor-dr-steven-hatfill-on

also supported claims on hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 (sent email to Meadows).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Hatfill

(snip)

Following the election, Hatfill became an active participant in Trump's efforts to overturn the election results, flying to Arizona to help challenge its election results, writing proposals for "Trump's Legal Fight", and sharing anti-Biden rumors.[

[ck4829]

1. Hey, wasn't he a suspect in the anthrax letters?

[deminks]

3. Yup, Ashcroft named him as a person of interest

but the investigation went no where.

[WA-03 Democrat]

14. Wow

Good memory! i remember it as well.

[erronis]

16. Another Fort Detrick person of interest

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Hatfill

Lot of strange right-wingers have come from that area.

[keep_left]

26. Yes, the connection to South Africa, and Rhodesia in particular...

...and a number of sinecure jobs--that got the attention of some Feds (and the press). I remember that the "Greendale School" (phony return address) on one of the anthrax letters was somehow associated with Hatfill.

[Lovie777]

2. DUH . ..

[tanyev]

4. Except there was a manufacturer in TX who contacted the White House

and begged them to implement the Defense Production Act so he could open more production lines and they ignored that, too.

The US was offered millions of masks in January. The Trump administration turned the offer down.

It’s unclear exactly why top officials turned down the offer, but the decision to do so continues to have consequences for the many frontline workers who still lack the necessary equipment to protect themselves on the job.

The Post reports Mike Bowen, owner of the largest surgical face mask producer in the US — Prestige Ameritech in Texas — contacted top officials in the Department of Health and Human Services on January 22, the day after the first US coronavirus cases were identified.

His pitch: Provide the funds needed to dust off four dormant manufacturing lines, and his firm would produce 1.7 million N95 masks every week. According to Bowen, he’d been raising the alarm for years that the US was too dependent on foreign countries (where nearly 90 percent of masks used in the country come from) for production, and argued his manufacturing lines offered both a way around that, and to ensure the US would have the masks it needed.

Rick Bright — the former director of HHS’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (who was ousted in April, and later filed a whistleblower complaint alleging he was demoted for fighting for science-based preparations “over political expediency”) — pushed top HHS officials to accept Bowen’s offer, to no avail. Prestige Ameritech later exported a million masks to China.

https://www.vox.com/covid-19-coronavirus-us-response-trump/2020/5/10/21253689/covid-19-masks-trump-white-house-prestige-ameritech

[erronis]

17. Bowen's offer was turned down because it didn't offer bribes to the donnie clan.

[ShazzieB]

23. Still?

It’s unclear exactly why top officials turned down the offer, but the decision to do so continues to have consequences for the many frontline workers who still lack the necessary equipment to protect themselves on the job.

They still don't have enough ppe? Even now? Ye gods.

[tanyev]

25. Article is from May 2020, so hopefully situation is better now.

[crickets]

5. Thanks for the update, deminks.

In the fall of 2020, Dr. Hatfill and other Trump Administration officials allowed the pandemic response to take a “back-seat” to instead focus their efforts on the 2020 presidential election and promote the Big Lie. [snip]

Dr. Hatfill’s role in the Trump Administration was far more extensive than previously known—casting doubt on the veracity of Dr. Hatfill’s prior statements to the Select Subcommittee.

Yadda, yadda, potential conflicts of interest... oh, look! Use of personal email accounts to conduct White House business. SOP for these jerks.

[sheshe2]

6. My niece had to wear a yellow slicker backwards.

The kind that police wear and she had to do it for 18 shifts, bulky and very hot.

As for this?

"At the time, profiteers were peddling defective and fraudulent PPE at inflated prices directly to the public," he said. "Even states such as California and New Mexico fell prey to these schemes, but we had no time to waste at the federal level. Even the shortest delay could cost thousands of lives. That was a risk we were not willing to take. Our choice to buy American goods saved lives and the United States taxpayer's money."

They had to wait for Kushner and his buddies to make millions to make and distribute our American brand.

Jared Kushner's shadow coronavirus task force used a spreadsheet called 'VIP Update' to procure PPE from inexperienced Trump allies over legitimate vendors

https://www.businessinsider.com/jared-kushner-coronavirus-task-force-prioritized-ppe-

trump-associates-nyt-2020-5

Trump Organization, Kushner Companies benefited from pandemic relief loans: report

https://thehill.com/homenews/news/528330-trump-organization-kushner-companies-benefited-from-pandemic-relief-loans

[Maru Kitteh]

20. I bought $30 "bunny suits" and a bunch of N95s at $8-20 each.

I sterilized everything in numbered 5-gallon buckets with a $40 o3 generator for CPAPs. This American was not saved money. This American probably put down around at least 9-11 hundred dollars out of pocket in a bid to not die and hopefully keep my family safe. I often slept in abandoned ex-nun housing on our grounds rather than risk taking COVID home.


Fuck this guy.

[sheshe2]

22. ...

[Bev54]

7. Most of this was brought out a year ago by one of the doctor/scientist

was a whistleblower. Many of his emails were released at that time.

[Jilly_in_VA]

8. JFC

What a bunch of blithering idiots we had in the place! A camel's grandmother is smarter! As Claire in Outlander would say when supremely annoyed, "Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ!"

[secondwind]

9. I vaguely remember Kushner early on getting in on the act, wanting to supply masks through

a friend ........... I may be wrong, tho.

[canetoad]

13. I think you're right

Pandemic profiteering.

[MyOwnPeace]

10. Makes 'ya cry, doesn't it?

And yet 74 millions of us wanted 'More of the Same!"

[Ford_Prefect]

11. Most of the ones still above ground do. It is a frightening thing to encounter them in full song.

[canetoad]

12. Neither was Covid!

(Manufactured in the USA).

[ffr]

15. PPE shortage in the U.S. in early 2020? Yeah, Pompeo shipped 18 tons of PPE to China

Link to tweet

Because we're humanitarians and like a miracle before you know it U.S. cases will be zero. You know, like they've been since the first cases arrived on our shores.

…when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done. President TFG, February 26, 2020

[crickets]

27. Jut about a month before the crap started to hit the fan here. Grr. 🤦‍♀️

[niyad]

18. KNR and bookmarking. For later.

[Skittles]

19. Trump violated the oath of office over and over and over

WHY would he be allowed to run again???

[COL Mustard]

21. I Worked On An Interagency Task Force Trying To Procure Masks And Other PPE

Last year. The problem was there was nothing made in the US. Everything we could buy, at least into the summer, was Chinese in origin. A lot of US manufacturers had off-shored the production for business reasons that don't look so good in hindsight, but that's where we were. You couldn't buy the stuff on Amazon, at Home Depot, anywhere else. One of the things we were able to do was to get production restarted in the US. I know 3M built a facility here and was ramping up to full production, but they were either the first or among the first. We looked everywhere for the raw materials and had a good deal of success with that, but it took a lot of time that we didn't have, so yes, we bought a lot of stuff from overseas.

[Evolve Dammit]

24. Profiting off others misfortune. The American way. The C-19 pandemic and 45 shows there is no bottom