Latest Moves
Left their role as HHS Secretary when Trump left office in January 2021.
Recent News
Azar Was On List Of Attendees For Meeting Where Cabinet Officials Voted To Proceed With Family Separations. “According to an invitation list obtained by NBC News, those expected to be in attendance at the meeting included: Sessions, Nielsen, Miller, Pompeo, Azar, Undersecretary of Defense John Rood, then-White House chief of staff John Kelly, White House deputy chief of staff Chris Liddell, then-White House counsel Don McGahn and Marc Short, who was then director of legislative affairs and is now chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence.” [NBC News, 8/20/20]
Headline: NBC News: “Trump Cabinet officials voted in 2018 White House meeting to separate migrant children, say officials.” [NBC News, 8/20/20]
March 2019: Azar Claimed Under Oath That He Was Unaware Family Separation Policy Was Being Considered Before It Was Announced. “I learned when others did in April when the attorney general announced that he was going to pursue zero tolerance. And then when the attorney general announced on May 7th that he was implementing zero tolerance and the 100 percent referral policy around that time, I would have been aware of those. But in all candor, I did not connect the dots at that point to the full implications and operational challenges that were…” [House Appropriations Committee hearing, 3/13/19]
As Of October 23, 2020, Azar Had Not Responded To Congressional Inquiry On Whether He Attended Meeting Where Officials Voted On Family Separation. [House Energy & Commerce Committee press release, 10/23/20]
Headline: Politico: “Trump’s health secretary refuses Democrats’ request to testify on separated kids.” [Politico, 1/22/19]
Azar Testified To Senate On June 26, 2018: “There Is No Reason Why Any Parent Would Not Know Where Their Child Is Located.” “HHS Secretary Alex Azar claimed migrant parents who have been separated from their kids under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” border policy should be able to easily locate their children, countering reports about difficulties families have faced. “There is no reason why any parent would not know where their child is located,” Azar testified at a Senate Finance Committee hearing this morning. Azar said he could locate “any child” in his department’s care “within seconds“ through an online government database.” [Politico, 6/26/18]
HHS Official Emailed ICE On June 23, 2018 Admitting They Only Had Enough Information To Connect 60 Parents With Their Kids Of The More Than 2,000 Separated. “On the same day the Trump administration said it would reunite thousands of migrant families it had separated at the border with the help of a “central database,” an official was admitting privately the government only had enough information to reconnect 60 parents with their kids, according to emails obtained by NBC News. “[I]n short, no, we do not have any linkages from parents to [children], save for a handful,” a Health and Human Services official told a top official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement on June 23, 2018. “We have a list of parent alien numbers but no way to link them to children.” [NBC News, 5/1/19]
