Brenda Fitzgerald was Donald Trump’s Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, charged with reducing smoking among Americans and doing work that directly affected the financial fortunes of tobacco companies when she bought a stake in Japan Tobacco.
A day after Politico outed her for making the investment, she was forced to resign, citing her “complex financial interests that have imposed a broad recusal limiting her ability to complete all of her duties as the CDC Director.” She apparently couldn’t just sell these “interests” because of the unspecified “nature of these financial interests.”
The stock was one of about a dozen new investments Fitzgerald made after she took the job, according to Politico.She also bought stocks in Merck & Co., Bayer and health insurer Humana.
Fitzgerald was already under scrutiny for failing to divest from other holdings she bought prior to taking the job, which led to her recusal from some health issues.
She was invited to testify before Congress at least four times on various public health issues but was unable to because of her conflicts, drawing the ire of Democrats.
CDC head resigns after report she traded tobacco stocks [Jessie Hellmann/The Hill]
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