Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Michael Caputo following his 2017 testimony before the House Intelligence Committee. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

HHS officials pressured the CDC to conform with President Donald Trump’s public statements about the coronavirus.

Political appointees have repeatedly pressured Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials to manipulate reports, in order to make them more closely align with President Donald Trump’s public statements about the pandemic, according to a new report from Politico’s Dan Diamond.

Diamond writes that “CDC officials have fought back against the most sweeping changes,” but the report finds that Trump appointees have nevertheless succeeded in politicizing public health and the response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has now killed more than 193,000 people in the US. These officials have reportedly worked to suppress reports on the ineffectiveness of hydroxychloroquine (a drug Trump has routinely touted as