Enlarge / Mehmet Oz, US Republican Senate candidate for Pennsylvania, speaks during a campaign event in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, June 9, 2022. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg)
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mehmet Oz—aka Dr. Oz—repeatedly emailed top-level Trump administration officials, urging them to push the ineffective malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, to treat COVID-19 based on scant, sketchy data from a now-disgraced French researcher.
Emails from the notorious celebrity doctor were revealed for the first time Wednesday in a report from the House select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis. The report, titled "A 'Knife Fight' with the FDA," delved into how the Trump administration worked to undermine, pressure, and bully the Food and Drug Administration during the pandemic.
Specifically, it unearthed how the Trump White House pressured the FDA to bend safety standards so that COVID-19 vaccines could be released before election day. It also revealed the tenacious efforts and subterfuge by top Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro and advisor Steven Hatfill to pressure the FDA into supporting the use of the debunked malaria drug. The report's title stems from a direct quote from Hatfill that the White House had a "knife fight scheduled with the FDA" over hydroxychloroquine.
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