Congress Set to Vote on Coronavirus Package
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: But, Jake, I also want to point out a few other things he says in this very lengthy statement, where he basically says that some of the drugs that they were pushing had potentially serious risks associated with them, including increased mortality observed in some recent studies in patients who had coronavirus. He says he was sidelined in the middle of a pandemic, and places and politics and cronyism ahead of science puts lives at risk and stunts national efforts to safely and effectively address this public health crisis. Here's what's really newsworthy. He says, at the end, he's going to ask that the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services investigate the manner in which this administration has politicized the work of BARDA, the agency he was leading. And then in his attorneys' statement, they say at the end that they are going to ask the Office of the Special Counsel to look into his termination, seek a stay on it, and they are trying to get him to stay in his position as the director of this agency. That's what his attorneys are saying here at the end. So, basically, what he is saying, he's not resigning from the administration overall, he's trying to actually keep his job as the director of this agency. And, Jake, there are going to be a lot of questions about this, if he is saying that the administration was pushing back on what he was trying to do as far as the purchase in the production of vaccines and treatments for coronavirus, and now he says he was pushed out in this job clearly against his will, based on the statement that he just put out.</s>JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And the way he describes it in his statement, Kaitlan, it sounds as though he really was motivated, at least in his own words, by trying to protect Americans from what is an unproven drug. He says I -- quote -- "rightly resisted efforts to provide an unproven drug on demand to the American public. I insisted that these drugs be provided only to hospitalized patients with confirmed cases, while under the supervision of a physician." This is quite believable, because we heard President Trump, who we should note, has a long record of not believing in science and official medicine when it comes to any number of issues, ranging from vaccines to other things, climate change, for example, but beyond that, President Trump has been pushing this drug. Here is somebody saying, I don't trust this drug. We can't just say the American people should take it. And he's saying that, because he resisted that, he was pushed out basically of his job trying to protect Americans.</s>COLLINS: Yes. And just to give people insight, and because this is a really little known agency. A lot of people don't know exactly that much about it. And it doesn't generate a lot of news, typically. Of course, now that we're in the middle of a pandemic, it does. And if you're the director of BARDA, you have a lot of power, basically, to decide what vaccines you're pursuing. You basically pay for those studies. And then that's how that moves forward. So it's a really incredibly powerful position. It's got a lot of money. And so that's why it is so crucial to know who the director of it is at a time like this. And that's what we were so surprised yesterday when he was pushed out of this job. And it's not like they had someone else come in and replace him. It's just his deputy who is replacing him on an acting basis. And the question was, is someone else is going to come in? So he's basically in charge of making sure that these treatments are going to be safe and viable and effective. And so he basically seems to be implying that people were trying to get him to invest in these other efforts that he did not think were worth their time. So, of course, there are going to be a lot of questions about this. We have already reached out to HHS. They did not immediately respond with any kind of statement on his departure. But, Jake, it's also really notable that he's still working in the administration. And now he's put out this loaded statement, basically saying that he was pressured in his job to come up with things he did not think were scientifically ready.</s>TAPPER: The idea of politics and the president's personal ego being placed above science reminds me of President Trump with the hurricane, but you can't sharpie a drug into acceptability and scientific acceptance to the American people. It doesn't work that way. Kaitlan Collins, thank you so much. I know you're going to be reporting much more of this later on. Some states around the country are now making moves now to reopen some businesses. Let's talk about the safety for customers and for workers. We're joined now by David Michaels. He's an epidemiologist at George Washington University. And David was also the longest serving head of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which you probably know better as OSHA. He did that under President Obama. David, OSHA is charged with protecting worker safety. And essential workers have been showing up to work every day since the coronavirus outbreak started. And I'm not talking just about doctors, nurses and health care workers, but also grocery store employees, food distributors. Is OSHA doing its job to make sure that they are safe.</s>DAVID MICHAELS, EPIDEMIOLOGIST, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: That's right, Jake. Thanks for asking me to be on the show. Well, there are workers across the country, not just in hospitals, farms, meatpacking plants, grocery stores, who are terrified. And there is no federal agency telling them they must protect workers. That's OSHA's job. But President Trump and secretary of labor, Eugene Scalia, have said, OSHA is not going to play any major role in this. And OSHA is, frankly, missing in action.</s>TAPPER: In Georgia, which is taking steps to reopen now, the Board of Cosmetology and Barbers issued guidance for a safe reopening of those kinds of stores. It includes temperature checks for every employee, every client, screening questions for clients, limits on the number of people that can be in the shops. Clients are being asked to wait in their cars, instead of in the shop. Employees are suggested to shower before a shift, keep their clothes in the shop each day, not to mention, of course, masks for everyone. Salons are being asked to consider divider shields between chairs. It sounds like a lot of steps being taken to protect people. Is it enough?</s>MICHAELS: Well, look, it certainly could be making things safer. But we don't know enough about this virus. And we know that, if you get within a few feet of someone who's coughing who's got the disease, you're getting exposed, and many of those exposed people get sick. What we need are very clear requirements. And everything we have seen coming out of governors, coming out the CDC, they're recommendations. There's no enforcement behind them. The only agency that has the authority to require employers to follow the rules is OSHA. And OSHA is not in the picture. It's been handcuffed.</s>TAPPER: Are all businesses going to be in a position to make their own rules, or is OSHA going to -- should OSHA be setting rules for each individual kind of business?</s>MICHAELS: Well, each individual kind of business is going to have to follow different rules. But what OSHA needs to do -- and I have been advocating this for months -- if I were still running OSHA, I would have done this months ago -- is issue an emergency standard saying, every employer which has workers who work with other workers or next to the public has to follow OSHA recommendations and CDC recommendations. Different employers are going to have to do it differently. But every one of them has to follow those rules, or be subject to a penalty. Without that, it's the Wild West.</s>TAPPER: Of course, the other point of view is that businesses that are allowed to open don't want to be sued for something that is going on that is an international tragedy, and not necessarily the fault of an individual business. How do you respond to those concerns?</s>MICHAELS: Well, unfortunately, what -- employers cannot be sued by their employees. Workers can't sue their employer when they get sick. They have to go into the exclusive remedy of the workers compensation system, which is a terrible system. There's been a race to the bottom, and benefits are terrible. So, because employers don't face that liability, you have employers like Smithfield Farms. Smithfield had hundreds of workers working elbow to elbow, shoulder to shoulder on pork processing lines. And hundreds of them have gotten sick. If they were facing liability, they might have done a better job. But they knew they didn't face liability. And they knew that OSHA is not going to come in and do anything. And we have disaster after disaster across the country because of this.</s>TAPPER: David Michaels, thank you so much. We appreciate your time today. And we should also note that CNN has invited Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to speak with us on air. He has declined every one of those offers. Coming up: beaches in South Carolina also now back open, even as the influential model often cited by the White House warns that that state should consider its measures until June. We're going to talk to the mayor of Charleston. That's next.