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Michael R. Caputo, the assistant secretary of health for public affairs, apologized Tuesday morning to the health secretary, Alex M. Azar II, and to his staff members for a bizarre and incendiary Facebook outburst in which he accused federal government scientists working on the pandemic of “sedition” and warned of coming violence from left-wing “hit squads.” He is considering a leave of absence to address physical health problems, according to a person familiar with the situation. (LaFraniere, 9/15)

Caputo told staffers that his series of false accusations on Facebook Live this weekend — which included unfounded allegations that the Centers for Disease Control was harboring a “resistance unit” — reflected poorly on HHS’ communications office. He blamed his recent behavior on a combination of physical health issues and the toll of fielding death threats against his family. Caputo also acknowledged that he had never read one of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports, despite his team's ongoing efforts to try to edit those documents. (Cancryn, Diamond and Owermohle, 9/15)

The department is standing by Caputo so far in the face of calls by congressional Democrats for his dismissal — and for the resignation of his boss, HHS Secretary Alex Azar. But Caputo, a Trump loyalist and former New York political operative, has become a significant new problem for a White House that has struggled all year with its coronavirus response. He can be heard on an HHS podcast asserting that Democrats don’t want a coronavirus vaccine before the election in order to punish Trump. Although Trump has made the same assertion, with no evidence to support it, such broadsides are not in a department spokesman’s normal portfolio. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Lardner, 9/15)

Caputo reportedly expressed regret for embarrassing Azar and the agency at large for saying, among other things, that “there are scientists who work for this government who do not want America to get well, not until after [Democratic presidential nominee] Joe Biden is president.” According to an HHS official who confirmed the meeting to The Hill, Caputo also said some of his comments have been taken out of context and recommended his staff to listen to music by the Grateful Dead. (Moreno, 9/15)