New reports bring into question Azar’s role in implementing Trump administration’s infamous family-separation policy

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Newly published press reports have brought into question statements Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar made under oath in March 2019 when he told lawmakers he had no knowledge of the Trump administration's plan to separate immigrant children from their families at the border before the policy was announced.

According to a recent NBC News report, cabinet officials – including Azar – were invited to attend a meeting in the White House Situation Room in early May 2018 to discuss the administration's now infamous family-separation policy before it was announced just days later.

Azar, however, testified before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health in March 2019 that he had no knowledge of the administration's plan to begin separating immigrant children from their parents until "the days and weeks following the announcement on May 7th."

In response to the newly published report, U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA) sent Azar a letter today asking if he was invited to the White House meeting as now reported and, if so, whether he attended.

"If this new reporting is accurate, it indicates that at best, you should have known about the implications of the proposed family separation policy but did not object to it – and at worst, you were complicit in the decision to separate thousands of vulnerable children from their families," the lawmakers wrote.

According to the newly published report, attendees at the White House meeting were asked "by a show-of-hands vote" whether to recommend implementing the policy of separating immigrant families at the border. According to the report, "[n]o one in the meeting made the case that separating families would be inhumane or immoral."

Less than one year after the meeting in the White House took reportedly took place, Azar told lawmakers while testifying before the Health subcommittee that he had no knowledge of the administration's plan to institute its family-separation policy before it was announced and "[i]f I had been alerted to it," he said, "I could have raised objections and concerns, absolutely."

"I wish we had had more knowledge flow," Azar told lawmakers during his testimony, "and I wish more people had been engaged in these issues."

Just days after the reported White House meeting took place, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on May 7, 2018 that the administration was expanding its newly announced zero-tolerance immigration policy and would start separating immigrant children from their parents when they arrive at the border.

The lawmakers' letter to Azar seeking more information as to his involvement in that pre-announcement meeting at the White House comes as part of the committee leaders' two-years-long investigation into the Trump administration's family-separation policy.

Despite multiple letters and repeated requests the lawmakers have sent to Azar over the past two years, HHS has yet to provide all of the documents requested.

The lawmakers requested that Azar respond to their most recent questions about his involvement in the newly reported meeting by Oct. 1.

A copy of the lawmakers' letter to Azar is available here.