A U.S.House Oversight Committee led by Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-SC, is investigating HHS officials, including the director of the CDC, over the handling of the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic. This week, the committee issued two subpoenas to U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar and CDC Director Robert Redfield.

The subpoenas were issued by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus in an attempt to understand whether or not the health officials mishandled the early stages of the pandemic in an attempt to improve the optics of Trump’s response to the outbreak.

The committee originally asked the CDC for documents pertaining to their investigation to be handed over by September 14. After HHS and health officials did not comply with the request, the committee issued the subpoenas requiring the two U.S. health officials to provide documents relating to the coronavirus pandemic by December 30.

In a letter written by Clyburn to the two health officials, Clyburn explains that “The subpoenas were necessary because the Select Subcommittee’s investigation has revealed that efforts to interfere with scientific work at CDC were far more extensive and dangerous than previously known."

Clyburn has said that documents already obtained during the committee’s investigation show evidence that the health officials tried to reject or change the information on at least 13 scientific reports about the coronavirus in its early to mid-stages in the U.S. Some of the scientific reports that were rejected pointed to evidence supporting an early and massive spread of the virus across the nation. By ignoring these reports, the committee alleges that the Trump administration sent the wrong message in response to the virus.

In Clyburn’s letter, there are additional allegations that HHS officials showed a “pattern of hostile and threatening behavior” with regard to working with CDC scientists. Seasoned CDC scientists who reported truthful and scientifically accurate statements about the virus to the public were retaliated against in order to keep in line with the Trump administration’s messaging about the virus. In one intercepted email between HHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Michael R. Caputo and communications staffers, Caputo writes, “If you disobey my directions, you will be held accountable."

Director Redfield has specifically been singled out by the Select Subcommittee because of his role in the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic. The Select Subcommittee explains that in some documents they received from HHS officials, there is evidence that director Redfield ordered employees to destroy key documents crucial to the investigation. The Select Subcommittee also expressed the possibility that other documents were destroyed in the process, keeping crucial evidence from being made public.

Additionally, prior to issuing the subpoenas, the Subcommittee claims that HHS officials stood in the way of allowing the committee to conduct interviews with key players, including director Redfield, his acting chief of staff, and his principal deputy.

While HHS officials have been complying with the House committee’s investigation, HHS responded to the subpoena with criticism saying, “The Subcommittee’s document request in the subpoena schedule would encompass almost every email sent or received by a political appointee regarding COVID-19 – potentially encompassing hundreds of millions of emails.”

Other members of the House, including Rep. Steve Scalise, have referred to the subpoenas as “partisan antics”