Former Trump administration official Michael Caputo violated federal law by ordering officials at the Department of Health and Human Services to stop talking with reporters.
Buzzfeed News' Jason Leopold has obtained documents showing that Caputo illegally told HHS officials that there were "no exceptions" where they would be allowed to speak to the media without his explicit permission to do so.
Timothy Cheng, an attorney in the Office of Special Counsel's investigation and prosecution division, concluded last month that Caputo's directives violated federal law because they did not inform HHS employees of their rights under federal whistleblower laws.
"OSC notified HHS of the missing notification and requested that HHS revise the Playbook to incorporate and prominently display the statutory language," wrote Cheng. "Besides correcting the Playbook, the revisions also provide a corrective action for Mr. Caputo’s actions, given that he cited the Playbook for his authority."
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Freddy Martinez, a policy analyst at transparency advocacy group Open the Government, said said Cheng's ruling "confirms that Trump-era officials unlawfully gagged scientists during the outbreak of the pandemic” and "is an important step in holding government officials accountable for their secrecy during the pandemic.”
Caputo last year stepped down from his position at HHS after he went on a paranoid rant accusing President Joe Biden and HHS staffers of plotting a coup against former President Donald Trump.
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