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DONALD Trump slammed whistleblower Dr Rick Bright as a "creep" as he urged CBS to fire the 60 Minutes host who interviewed him.
The president called on CBS owner Shari Redstone to fire "third place anchor" Norah O'Donnell on Monday for chatting to Bright, who claimed the federal response cost lives.
The scientist, who was ousted from the HHS for speaking out, told Congress last week that the US faced "the darkest winter" in history if the federal response didn't improve.
"I am frustrated at a lack of leadership," Bright told 60 Minutes. "I am frustrated at a lack of urgency to get a head start on developing lifesaving tools for Americans.
"I'm frustrated at our inability to be heard as scientists."
But Trump was enraged that the disease expert was given a platform to air his views, saying CBS "are doing everything in their power to demean our Country, much to the benefit of the Radical Left Democrats."
"Tonight they put on yet another Fake 'Whistleblower,' a disgruntled employee who supports Dems, fabricates stories, & spews lies," the president said of Bright, who has a Ph.D. in virology.
"The [60 Minutes] report was incorrect, which they couldn’t care less about. Fake News!"
Trump acknowledged that he didn't know Bright and had never met him, but asked "how can a creep like this show up to work tomorrow & report to [Secretary Azar], his boss, after trashing him on T.V.?"
"This whole Whistleblower racket needs to be looked at very closely, it is causing great injustice & harm. I hope you are listening [Senator Susan Collins]," Trump concluded. "I also hope that Shari Redstone will take a look at her poorly performing gang. She knows how to make things right!"
His Twitter rant comes after Bright told Congress that his repeated warnings about coronavirus were ignored by and Trump administration last Thursday.
Last week, his press secretary Kayleigh McEnany insisted the government did have a plan while Trump blamed the Obama administration for leaving them with "little" to prepare for a pandemic.
Coronavirus has infected more than 1.5 million people in the US, pummeled the economy and claimed the lives of more than 90,000 Americans.
Bright, the ousted director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) lambasted the Trump administration's "absurd" three-month delay in responding to his virus warnings, saying "I believe lives were lost" as a result.
Bright said Texas mask maker Mike Bowen told him in a note that "we are in deep s**t, the world is" even though the Feds were made aware of the depleted supply stockpile.
But Trump dismissed Bright's claims during an afternoon press briefing on Thursday that coincided with the vaccine expert's hearing.
I also hope that [CBS owner] Shari Redstone will take a look at her poorly performing gang.
Donald Trump
“To me he is nothing more than a really unhappy disgruntled person,” the president told reporters.
Bright, who was removed from his job in April, said that no action was taken to put a viable plan in place when Azar and the HHS were briefed on the outbreak in Wuhan.
"There was no action taken on the urgency to come up with a plan for acquisition of limited doses of remdisivir, nor [to] distribute those limited doses of remdisivir once we had scientific data to help those infected with the virus," Bright said.
The scientist - who has yet to accept a role at NIH - said officials are already experiencing challenges with limited doses of the recently approved drug, which was given emergency use authorization by the FDA.
The Feds have hit back, saying Bright has "not yet shown up for work" even though he was on a "taxpayer-funded" medical leave for hypertension but continues to collect his $285,010 salary.
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The HHS' blistering statement argued that his complaint was full of "one-sided arguments and misinformation" on Thursday before Trump's latest Twitter tirade today.
But it also emerged that the Trump administration's response plan was slammed in a 2019 "Crimson Contagion" simulation report over "insufficient preparation and funding."
"There were lessons [in this report] about shortages on critical supplies such as personal protective equipment, such as masks, N95 masks, gowns, goggles," Bright told O'Donnell. "And there were lessons about the need for funding."
Trump slams coronavirus whistleblower Dr Bright as ‘angry disgruntled employee’