Republicans torch Biden CDC pick over COVID 'misinformation' about masks, vaccines

FIRST ON FOX: Twenty-two Republican House members and six GOP senators urged President Biden to withdraw his reported appointee to oversee the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy led the letter with Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., opposing the president’s reported nomination of Dr. Mandy Cohen as the next CDC director and urging him to rescind his selection.

"Dr. Cohen is unfit for the position," the lawmakers wrote. "Throughout her career, Dr. Cohen has politicized science, disregarded civil liberties, and spread misinformation about the efficacy and necessity of COVID vaccinations and the necessity of masks, during her time as the Secretary of the North Carolina Health and Human Services."

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"She also has a history of engaging in partisan left-wing politics," the Republicans continued. "As Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Cohen was a proponent of unnecessary, unscientific COVID restrictions on school children, stating in July 2021 that ‘Schools with students in K-8th grade should require all children and staff to wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status. Schools with students in 9th-12th grades should ensure that anyone who isn’t fully vaccinated, including students, wear a mask indoors.’"

The Republicans pointed out that, after a North Carolina school district "followed the science by declining to institute unscientific mask mandates" and ended "other unproven and largely hysterical quarantine policies," Cohen "threatened to bring legal action against the district."

"Dr. Cohen’s willingness to threaten the school district put politics over the well-being of children and is just another example of the litany of public health abuses the American people endured at the hands of bureaucrats throughout the COVID-19 pandemic," they wrote.

Roy, Budd and their colleagues wrote that while Cohen "claims to have acted on scientific data, her account of her decision-making during the pandemic indicated that she merely arbitrarily copied her friends' actions in similar positions of power, without considering scientific evidence or the decisions of elected officials."

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The Republicans pointed out that Cohen "recounted a conversation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services in Massachusetts," whom she "claimed she ‘called the most’ for advice on COVID policy," where Cohen mirrored her Massachusetts compatriot’s decision to lighten up on masks that upcoming Monday.

"To further illustrate the point, in August 2020, Dr. Cohen publicly sported a Dr. Fauci-themed cloth mask, asserting that ‘face coverings are one of our strongest tools to slow the spread of COVID-19,’" the lawmakers wrote.

"This was despite scientific data showing that face coverings largely fail to stop the spread of COVID-19, including experts finding that ‘we continue to conclude that cloth masks and face coverings are likely to have limited impact on lowering COVID-19 transmission,’" they continued.

The lawmakers noted that Cohen "has an extensive history of publicly campaigning for Democrats and supporting radical, left-wing policies," such as pushing for a ban on "semi-automatic rifles" and lobbying "to classify climate change as a ‘public health crisis’" while working for the political group "Doctors for Obama" — later "Doctors for America."

"She also participated in the misleading ‘White Coat Rally’ at the White House supporting ObamaCare as a tense debate raged and as recently as August of 2022 hosted fundraisers for Democrats running for office," the lawmakers wrote.

"Given her strong affiliation with the Democrat Party and the COVID-19 lockdowns, it will be difficult for the American people to trust Dr. Cohen to run the CDC as a nonpartisan actor who makes objective decisions rooted in scientific data, and not in political expediency. Therefore, we urge you to reverse course on Dr. Cohen’s reported appointment to the Director of the CDC."

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Though the CDC director position does not require Senate confirmation, members of Congress are nevertheless urging Biden to change his selection. The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Joining Roy and Budd on the letter are several of their GOP colleagues, including Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas, Eric Schmitt of Missouri, JD Vance of Ohio, and Mike Braun of Indiana as well as Reps. Dan Bishop of North Carolina and Ronny Jackson of Texas.