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richard bright
'Totally Under Control': New, Secretly-Filmed Documentary Details Trump's Colossal Covid-19 Failures
"We, the scientists, knew what to do for the pandemic response," says former federal vaccine expert Dr. Rick Bright in the film. "It is time to lay our careers on the line and push back."
Oct 14, 2020
Several public health experts who have spent this year watching as President Donald Trump has ignored, refuted, and openly mocked their guidance on the coronavirus pandemic are among those interviewed in a new documentary titled "Totally Under Control"--coming forward to give an insider's account of how the Trump administration's severe mismanagement of the crisis led to more than 216,000 deaths in the United States so far.
"Should open-minded viewers decide to watch 'Totally Under Control,' they're likely to feel snapped awake, as if from a long, horrifying national trance."
--Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
Directed by Alex Gibney--whose previous documentary subjects include the energy company Enron, the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, and the church of Scientology--the trailer for the film begins with reports of the first confirmed Covid-19 case in the U.S. on January 20 and concludes with the president making the claim that the documentary is named after, telling a reporter that the pandemic is "totally under control."
The experts featured in the trailer and film make clear that while the U.S. had at its disposal every resource it needed to save hundreds of thousands of lives, the federal government refused to prepare healthcare workers and the general public for the crisis, choosing instead to downplay the pandemic.
"We, the scientists, knew what to do for the pandemic response," says Dr. Rick Bright, a vaccine expert who was ousted from his role at the Health and Human Services Department after objecting to Trump's Covid-19 response. "The plan was in front of us but leadership would not do it. It is time to lay our careers on the line and push back."
Watch:
The film was made in secret, and also includes interviews with former CDC director Tom Frieden, Dr. Taison Bell of University of Virginia, and Michael Bowen, an executive at medical supply company Prestige Ameritech whose offer to produce N95 masks was dismissed by federal officials in January.
"Political leaders caused avoidable death and destruction," Frieden, who served under the Obama administration, says in the trailer.
In the two-hour film, Gibney focuses significantly on a "missing six weeks" in February and March when the federal government failed to implement a widespread testing strategy and the CDC went ahead with the development of a faulty test kit. The administration "squandered the critical window for containing the virus" during that time, wrote Adrian Horton at The Guardian.
Around the same time, Trump spoke with veteran journalist Bob Woodward, who later released audio recordings of the president stating clearly that he understood the virus to be highly deadly and virulent to people of all ages--even as he was publicly saying Covid-19 would likely "disappear" on its own in a matter of weeks or months.
"They knew all this, and yet they refused to act," Gibney told The Guardian.
Reviewers of the film at The Guardian and the Washington Post wrote that "Totally Under Control" will likely be most widely viewed and appreciated by people who are already familiar with and critical of the president's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
But "should open-minded viewers decide to watch 'Totally Under Control,'" wrote Ann Hornaday at the Post, "they're likely to feel snapped awake, as if from a long, horrifying national trance. Let's hope they keep awake, and stay angry."
"Totally Under Control" is available to rent on streaming platforms including YouTube and iTunes, and will be available on Hulu on October 20.
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WATCH LIVE: Whistleblower Dr. Rick Bright Testifies on Failures of Trump Administration's Covid-19 Response
The ousted federal scientist is expected to offer damning testimony.
May 14, 2020
Dr. Rick Bright, the ousted director of federal office dedicated to vaccines and infectious diseases, is expected to criticize the Trump administration's lackluster and chaotic response to the coronavirus pandemic and warn of the 'darkest winter in modern history' to come if the outbreak is not brought under control during a House hearing on Thursday.
Bright is testifying at before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, chaired by Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.).
"If we fail to develop a national coordinated response, based in science, I fear the pandemic will get far worse and be prolonged, causing unprecedented illness and fatalities," Bright is expected to say in his prepared testimony.
The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10:00am ET. Watch it live:
Bright, who was until April the director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) at HHS, filed a whistleblower complaint last week stating that he was demoted after objecting to President Donald Trump's promotion of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19. The president's repeated mentions of the anti-malarial drug are believed to be linked to a number of overdoses.
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Warning US Could Face 'Darkest Winter in Modern History,' Ousted Whistleblower Demands Science-Based Pandemic Response
"If we fail to develop a national coordinated response, based in science, I fear the pandemic will get far worse and be prolonged, causing unprecedented illness and fatalities."
May 13, 2020
Dr. Rick Bright, the vaccine expert who was reportedly ousted from his position at the Health and Human Services Department after he objected to the Trump administration's Covid-19 response, plans to issue a grave warning Thursday when he testifies before a House committee regarding the his push for a science-based approach to the pandemic.
According to his written testimony, which was obtained by news outlets on Wednesday, Bright plans to tell the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health that "our window of opportunity" to avoid a deadly second wave of the coronavirus next fall is closing.
"We need to be truthful with the American people... The truth must be based on scientific evidence--and not filtered for political reasons."
--Dr. Rick Bright, former BARDA director
"If we fail to develop a national coordinated response, based in science, I fear the pandemic will get far worse and be prolonged, causing unprecedented illness and fatalities," Bright's testimony reads. "Without clear planning and implementation of the steps that I and other experts have outlined, 2020 will be the darkest winter in modern history."
Bright, who was until April the director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) at HHS, filed a whistleblower complaint last week stating that he was demoted after objecting to President Donald Trump's promotion of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19. The president's repeated mentions of the anti-malarial drug are believed to be linked to a number of overdoses.
Bright also clashed with HHS leaders including Robert Kadlec, assistant secretary for preparedness and response, over the department's decision to ignore a medical supply company which offered in January to manufacture up to seven million N95 masks per month. The offer came when Covid-19 was spreading around the world and had been reported in only one patient in the United States, and Bright wrote in his whistleblower complaint that it and other warnings fell "on deaf ears."
"I spoke out then and I am testifying today because science--not politics or cronyism--must lead the way to combat this deadly virus," Bright plans to tell the committee.
In his testimony Thursday, Bright will outline four crucial steps the federal government must take to avoid a second wave of the pandemic later this year:
- Ramping up production of medical supplies.
- Facilitating equitable distribution of equipment to all states.
- Developing a national testing strategy, ensuring tests are accurate, rapid, easy to use, low cost, and available to everyone who needs them.
- Increasing public education about Covid-19 prevention.
"We need to be truthful with the American people... The truth must be based on scientific evidence--and not filtered for political reasons," Bright wrote.
He added that "our leaders must lead by modeling the behavior" needed to stop the spread of Covid-19, including mask-wearing--a likely reference to reports that new White House rules requiring masks do not apply to the president, and to images of Vice President Mike Pence visiting a coronavirus ward without a mask.
Bright's testimony will come two days after Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned lawmakers that the U.S. could face "needless suffering and death" if the government reopens the economy too quickly.
"We will either be remembered for what we did or for what we failed to do to address this crisis," Bright said. "I call on all of us to act--to ensure the health, safety, and prosperity of all Americans."
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