The whistle-blower who was ousted as the head of a federal medical research agency charged on Thursday that top Trump administration officials failed to heed his early warnings to stock up on masks and other supplies to combat the coronavirus, and that Americans died as a result.

“Lives were endangered, and I believe lives were lost,” Dr Rick Bright, who was removed in April as the director of the department of health and human services’s biomedical advanced research and development authority, told a House subcommittee as he warned, “The window is closing to address this pandemic.”

Over nearly four hours of testimony, Dr Bright told lawmakers that the outbreak would “get worse and be prolonged” if the US did not swiftly develop a national testing strategy. He also predicted vaccine shortages if the administration did not draft a distribution plan now.

After holding back for nearly a month, President Trump; his health secretary, Alex M. Azar II; and his trade adviser, Peter Navarro, all hit back at Dr Bright, in a three-pronged assault that elevated the confrontation.

Trump dismissed Dr Bright as a “disgruntled employee” and Navarro, whom Bright considered an ally in the White House, called him a “deserter in the war on the China virus.” Azar insisted officials followed through on the scientist’s ideas.

“Everything he was complaining about was achieved,” Azar told reporters as he and Trump were preparing to board the presidential helicopter to leave for Allentown, Pennsylvania. “What he talked about was done. He said he talked about the need for respirators. We procured respirators at the President’s direction. He said we need a Manhattan Project on a vaccine. We had a Manhattan Project.”

“This is like someone who was in choir trying to say he was a soloist back then,” Azar continued, adding: “His allegations do not hold water.”

The president joined in. “I don’t know him,” Trump said. “I never met him. I don’t want to meet him but I watched him, and he looks like an angry, disgruntled employee who, frankly, according to some people, didn’t do a very good job.”

Dr Bright’s testimony was the first time a federal scientist — or any federal official — had gone before Congress and openly accused the administration of endangering American lives by bungling its coronavirus response. He said Americans would face “the darkest winter in modern history” if the administration did not move quickly, as people become “restless” to leave their homes.

That came two days after Dr Anthony S. Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, contradicted Trump by warning of “needless suffering and death” if states reopened too quickly, amounting to a one-two punch for the administration.

Azar and Dr Bright’s immediate supervisor at the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert Kadlec, declined invitations to testify, as did Navarro. Representative Anna G. Eshoo said later in an interview that she did not intend to subpoena them. New York Times News Service