White House rebukes CBS interview after host battles NIH director over loss of trust in public health

Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Dr.Jay Bhattacharya clashed with CBS' Margaret Brennan on Sunday over a loss of trust in public health, as the CBS host blamed President Donald Trump's administration officials for the spread of misinformation and was sharply rebuked by the White House.Brennan asked the NIH director — who is also acting director of the U.S.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — about a shooting at the CDC in Georgia that left DeKalb County Police Department Officer David Rose dead when a suspect fired around 200 rounds into six CDC buildings in August 2025. The suspect's father indicated his son was fixated on the COVID-19 vaccine and blamed it for making him depressed and suicidal, according to authorities.Brennan asked Bhattacharya if the administration was doing enough to counter vaccine misinformation.Bhattacharya said they shouldn't be putting emphasis on the shooter, as the CBS host argued her emphasis was on vaccine misinformation.NIH Director Dr.

Jay Bhattacharya sits down with CBS News host Margaret Brennan on "Face the Nation" on Aug.9, 2026.

(CBS/FaceTheNation)EX-CBS REPORTER CLAIMS QUESTIONING FAUCI GOT HER 'PULLED OFF AIR' DURING COVID PANDEMIC"I think the key thing is there's a loss of public trust in public health that happened in part because of a lot of – frankly, even — even on this network and on other networks, there was a particular single point of view put across during the COVID pandemic about how, you know, that led to things that really did cause harm to people.The school closures are probably the number one thing that— ," the NIH director began."This is not a productive line of claims.

We covered COVID in depth on this program, like no other Sunday show did," Brennan pushed back.The White House rebuked Brennan over the interview in a statement to Fox News Digital."The Fake News media openly supported unscientific lockdowns during the pandemic era and openly supported censoring anyone ...