Trump health official taking medical leave after calling on president’s supporters to prepare for insurrection

WASHINGTON - The health department’s top communications official is taking a 60-day medical leave, three days after urging President Donald Trump’s supporters to prepare for an armed insurrection and accusing government scientists of “sedition,” the agency announced Wednesday.

Michael Caputo, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, leveled the accusations and promoted other conspiracy theories Sunday on Facebook Live.

In a statement early Wednesday afternoon, HHS said Caputo would be on leave for the next 60 days to “focus on his health and the well-being of his family.” That means he will be on leave past the Nov. 3 election.

The agency also announced that Paul Alexander, a top aide to Caputo, would be leaving the agency. Alexander came under scrutiny in recent weeks for his efforts to exert control over the messages coming from scientists and top health officials, including the content of weekly science reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to make them conform to the president’s assertions that the virus is under control.

White House officials had been in discussion with top HHS officials, including HHS Secretary Alex Azar, about Caputo’s future as a growing number of Democrats called for his firing.

Caputo had been set to oversee a public relations campaign to help build public trust in a coronavirus vaccine. Recent polls show that a significant number of Americans are unlikely to take a vaccine as soon as it is available for fear that safety has been compromised for speed.

Several current and former officials said the recent controversies regarding the longtime political operative threatened public trust in the public relations campaign.

In recent days, Caputo has been less involved in strategy sessions about the White House’s Operation Warp Speed initiatives, including a call with reporters on Wednesday.

Caputo on Tuesday apologized to HHS staff members for his remarks and the embarrassment they brought upon department, and he said he was considering a medical leave. He also said his family had been receiving threats and that his physical health was in question.

Trump installed Caputo at HHS in April after damaging stories about the president’s handling of the pandemic, according to three current and former senior administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe behind-the-scenes discussions.

Democrats called for his resignation Monday - and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, called on Azar to step down Tuesday - after reports over the weekend detailed how Caputo and Alexander interfered in the weekly scientific reports from the CDC.

McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, where Alexander is listed as a part-time assistant professor, sought to distance itself from him as well on Monday.

“While Paul Alexander graduated with a PhD in health research methodologies from McMaster in 2015, he is not currently teaching and he is not paid by the university for his contract role as a part-time assistant professor,” said Susan Emigh, a spokeswoman at McMaster University. “As a consultant, he is not speaking on behalf of McMaster University or the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact.”

Caputo was an unusual choice for the top health communications job in the government. The longtime political consultant began working with Trump in 2014, first to assist Trump’s unsuccessful bid to buy the Buffalo Bills that year and then, in 2016, to assist Trump’s efforts in the Republican primary for president in New York.

Caputo remained in the public eye in 2017, bemoaning the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller and the effect it had on Trump and his allies.

Caputo drew the attention of Mueller’s investigators in part because he had contact with a Russian who offered damaging information about Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign.

In May 2016, Caputo said, a Russian man approached his business partner Sergey “George” Petrushin, claiming to have information that could be helpful to Trump’s campaign. Petrushin connected him with Caputo, who arranged for him to meet with political operative Roger Stone, a longtime friend of Caputo’s.

According to the Mueller report, which described the episode, investigators found no link between the Russian man’s outreach and the broader effort by Russia to interfere in the 2016 election.

Caputo lived for a time in Moscow in the 1990s, where he worked on a campaign for then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

Returning to the United States, Caputo took a contract in 2000 working for the Russian conglomerate Gazprom Media to improve Vladimir Putin’s image in the United States. He later told the Buffalo News that he was “not proud of the work,” adding, “at the time, Putin wasn’t such a bad guy.”