White House Denies Report It’s Replacing Health Secretary Azar
White House denied a Dow Jones report that it’s in talks to replace Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar
(Bloomberg) -- The White House denied a Dow Jones report that it’s in talks to replace Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar amid criticism of his handling of the early response to the coronavirus outbreak.
“The Department of Health and Human Services, under the leadership of Secretary Azar, continues to lead on a number of the President’s priorities,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said. “Any speculation about personnel is irresponsible and a distraction from our whole-of-government response to COVID-19.”
Dow Jones cited six people familiar with the discussions in its report. The newswire said it’s unclear about the timeline of Azar’s departure as the White House is reluctant to change the leadership of the HHS amid the pandemic. Talks about the removal became more serious in recent days, it said.
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