WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican political operatives are recruiting "extremely pro-Trump" doctors to go on television to prescribe reviving the U.S. economy as quickly as possible, without meeting safety benchmarks proposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.
The plan was discussed in a May 11 conference call with a senior staffer for the Trump reelection campaign organized by CNP Action, an affiliate of the Republican-aligned Council for National Policy. A leaked recording of the hourlong call was provided to The Associated Press by the Center for Media and Democracy, a progressive watchdog group.
CNP Action is part of the Save Our Country Coalition, an alliance of right-wing think tanks and political committees formed in late April to end state lockdowns implemented in response to the pandemic. Other members of the coalition include the FreedomWorks Foundation, the American Legislative Exchange Council and Tea Party Patriots.
A recovering economy is seen as critical to boosting President Trump's reelection hopes and has become a growing focus of the White House coronavirus task force led by Vice President Mike Pence.
Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign communications director, confirmed to AP that an effort to recruit doctors to support the president publicly is under way, but declined to say when the initiative would be rolled out.
"Anybody who joins one of our coalitions is vetted," Murtaugh said Monday. "And so, quite obviously, all of our coalitions espouse policies and say things that are, of course, exactly simpático with what the president believes. ... The president has been outspoken about the fact that he wants to get the country back open as soon as possible."
During an emergency such as the pandemic, it's important that the government provide consistent science-based information to the public, said Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, an epidemiology professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert and a member of the White House's coronavirus task force, has been among the most visible government experts warning that lifting lockdowns too quickly could lead to a spike in deaths.
El-Sadr said having doctors relay contradictory information on behalf of the president is "quite alarming."
"I find it totally irresponsible to have physicians who are touting some information that's not anchored in evidence and not anchored in science," El-Sadr said. "What often creates confusion is the many voices that are out there, and many of those voices do have a political interest, which is the hugely dangerous situation we are at now."
Murtaugh said the campaign is not concerned about contradicting government experts.
"Our job at the campaign is to reflect President Trump's point of view," Murtaugh said. "We are his campaign. There is no difference between us and him."
On the May 11 call, Nancy Schulze, a Republican activist who is married to former Rep. Dick Schulze, R-Pa., said she had given the campaign a list of 27 doctors prepared to defend Trump’s reopening push.
"There is a coalition of doctors who are extremely pro-Trump that have been preparing and coming together for the war ahead in the campaign on health care," Schulze said on the call. "And we have doctors that are … in the trenches, that are saying 'It's time to reopen.'"
The idea quickly gained support from Mercedes Schlapp, a Trump campaign senior adviser who previously served two years as the president's director of strategic communications.
"Those are the types of guys that we should want to get out on TV and radio to help push out the message," Schlapp said on the call.
"They've already been vetted. But they need to be put on the screens," Schulze replied.
