CDC Director resigns

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar had planned to send a clear message to Congress and his new boss in the White House that he would not tolerate ethically questionable behavior.

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Less than 48 hours after being sworn in, Azar accepted the resignation of CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald amid questions about her judgment and conflicts of interest.

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“Alex has a really low tolerance for drama,” a person familiar with Azar’s thinking said. “He wants the president to look at HHS and say, ‘This is my workhorse. This is the place where I’m getting stuff done.’”

  

Sorry, Alex. His lordship doesn't give a shit whether anything is working, and he's not impressed with ethics.

Sources inside HHS and the CDC say there were several reasons to believe Azar couldn’t stand for any more public relations problems in his agency. Fitzgerald’s lingering problem with an ethics recusal — she wouldn’t do work on cancer detection or some aspects of the opioid crisis — posed enough of a problem for the CDC.

“We have like the worst flu epidemic ever, and she’s not out there,” a source close to the department said of her inability to testify. “That’s mind-boggling at a very basic level.”

Recall that Fitzgerald bought stock in tobacco firms as soon as she got the position with the CDC and then had to sell it when the fact was uncovered.

Sometimes even the Trump cabal can get too greedy too fast. I know it seems like that's not possible.

I think that the GOP are under the impression that it's now a free-for-all, and they're going to support Trump for as long as they can in order to personally enrich themselves. I don't know how long this can go on, but I know it can go on too long, and the country collapse under the weight of corruption.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.