The Trump administration’s moves pressuring science agencies to take controversial steps on the coronavirus are threatening to undermine public confidence in health experts at a moment when they have become uniquely visible.

On Sunday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization for convalescent plasma as a treatment for COVID-19. Scientific studies are inconclusive about taking that approach, and some said authorizing its use will hinder the ability to conduct more definitive research.

And on Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) quietly changed its guidance on testing those who have come into contact with a COVID-19 patient. The agency no longer recommends those contacts be tested, despite what is known about the risk of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic spread of the virus.

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Both decisions appear tinged by politics: A new treatment, announced by President TrumpDonald John TrumpThe Memo: Trump reaches for optimism as weapon against Biden Five takeaways on GOP’s norm-breaking convention Trump taunts Democrats in White House speech: ‘We’re here and they’re not’ MORE on the eve of the Republican National Convention, has been presented as evidence that the nation is on the brink of a miraculous recovery. At the same time, guidance suggesting fewer people ought to be tested is likely to lead to lower case counts, even as the virus continues to spread widely.

And in both cases, the scientists who run the agencies later acknowledged the concerns raised by their actions. FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said criticism of his decision to authorize emergency use of convalescent plasma was “entirely justified,” while CDC Director Robert Redfield on Thursday clarified the new guidance against testing contacts.

But the initial decisions left some in the public health community worried that the damage has already been done.

“The recent episodes at FDA and CDC are prime examples of how you would go about undercutting or undermining trust in public health,” said Rich Besser, a former acting director of the CDC who now heads the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “When you see public health guidance that has been inordinately influenced by politics, that undercuts the trust that is so essential.”

Trump has disparaged the government’s public health experts and agencies, repeatedly casting doubt on guidance about protections meant to limit infections, from reopening the economy to the use of face coverings. That doubt has sewn rejection of basic adherence to public health guidance — and even skepticism that the virus is real — among Trump’s base and in conservative media.

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“Government is supposed to be working together to protect the entire country, and instead we’re seeing these open disagreements that further sow public disagreement and undermine public trust,” said Howard Koh, an assistant secretary for health in the Obama administration who now teaches at Harvard’s Chan School of Public Health.

The risk in politicizing science and health, experts said, is that a distrustful public will become less willing to accept the next recommendation — or even a vaccine. Polling shows a significant percentage of Americans are unwilling to get a vaccine once an effective candidate emerges; that number would grow if the public has reason to question whether a vaccine is being rushed to market before the appropriate safety checks are completed.

“If there are concerns that the process by which FDA decides to approve a vaccine has been influenced by politics, that will reduce the confidence of the public in that vaccine,” Besser said. “It will likely lead to fewer people willing to receive that vaccine.”

Vaccines are most effective when administered to a broader share of the population, denying a pathogen the vectors it needs to spread and survive. The greater the share of a population that receives a vaccine, the lower the risk of spread — even among those who opt against being vaccinated themselves.

Anthony FauciAnthony FauciShifting CDC testing guidance sparks backlash American Medical Association criticizes new Trump testing guidance The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Facebook – Pence rips Biden as radical risk MORE, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned this week against an emergency authorization for a vaccine before testing shows it is both safe and effective.

Koh said the U.S. is facing a make-or-break moment.

“This is a time to insist that the rigor and science of the decision making process be held to the highest level. The future of global public health is dependent on that,” he said.

History is rife with examples of a distrustful public that does not adhere to health guidelines, to their own detriment. 

Polio vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan and Pakistan have been interrupted by rumors that vaccinators are secret intelligence agents. Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and West Africa dragged on for years amid conspiracy theories that the virus was a plot hatched to eliminate one tribe or another.

“Trust is a two-way street between communities and individuals that have to take advice about things that they don’t have expertise in, and for reasons that may extend beyond their own self-interest,” said Prabhjot Singh, a global health expert at the Icahn School of Medicine and Mount Sinai Health System. “These are moments when people start to turn off their engagement, and that hurts low trust communities, it hurts the country and it hurts individuals. Putting that all back together takes a lot of deep work.”

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Public health experts have watched with growing anxiety as the Trump administration has sidelined scientists, and especially the CDC. In previous health crises, CDC directors have served as the public face of the government response, in a way Redfield is not today.

“One of the most powerful tools that CDC has is the ability to communicate,” Besser said. “In this pandemic that’s been taken away from them.”

A group of U.S. federal agencies on Wednesday issued an alert warning of North Korean cyber-enabled bank robbery schemes targeting financial institutions.

The Treasury Department, the FBI, U.S. Cyber Command, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned in the joint alert that a prolific North Korean hacking group known as “BeagleBoyz” had resumed targeting financial institutions. 

“Since February 2020, North Korea has resumed targeting banks in multiple countries to initiate fraudulent international money transfers and ATM cash outs,” the agencies wrote in the alert. “The recent resurgence follows a lull in bank targeting since late 2019.”

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According to the agencies, BeagleBoyz has attempted to steal $2 billion since at least 2015, and in the process have “manipulated” or “rendered inoperable” computer systems at banks and other financial institutions in almost 40 countries. 

The agencies warned that BeagleBoyz has been using malware for a “FASTCash” scheme to target payment infrastructure at banks and servers that process financial transaction messages, with the scheme dating to 2016. The scheme enabled the group to intercept financial messages and respond with messages that enabled ATM payments. 

The group is affiliated with another North Korean hacking group, Lazarus, which was sanctioned by the Treasury Department last year for targeting critical infrastructure, with the agency describing the group at the time as a “controlled entity of the Government of North Korea.”

“North Korea’s widespread international bank robbery scheme that exploits critical banking systems may erode confidence in those systems and presents risks to financial institutions across the world,” the agencies wrote. 

North Korea is regarded as one of the most dangerous adversaries to the U.S. in cyberspace alongside Russia, China and Iran. According to the federal agencies, North Korean authorities use funds obtained through hacking operations to fund nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. 

Bryan Ware, the assistant director of cybersecurity at CISA, said in a statement on Wednesday that “North Korean cyber actors have demonstrated an imaginative knack for adjusting their tactics to exploit the financial sector as well as any other sector through illicit cyber operations.”

“CISA and our interagency partners work closely with industry to provide actionable, specific and timely cyber threat information, like today’s alert,” he added. “Our aim is to disrupt and defeat malicious cyber campaigns and help government and industry partners prioritize resources to highest risk to stay one-step ahead of adversaries.”

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TV’s most outspoken space explorer has a question for the minds behind the U.S. military’s newest branch: “What the heck is wrong with you, Space Force?”

In a Military Times op-ed published Wednesday, actor William Shatner railed against the U.S. Space Force for choosing the Air Force’s officer rank structure over the Navy’s, contravening decades of science fiction conventions.

“Do you know your entertainment space history? Let me show you what I mean,” wrote Shatner, who played Captain, later admiral, James T. Kirk on “Star Trek.”

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“Throughout entertainment history, which precedes actual space flight history by decades, we had captains,” he wrote, providing examples of Navy ranks adopted for fictional space exploration dating back to the early 20th century.

Shatner invoked the heroic exploits of fictional space captains, while poking fun at TV space colonels.

“We cannot forget [U.S. Air Force] Colonel Steve Austin, an astronaut who crashed his ship and severely injured himself that cost taxpayers $6 million to put him back together, who was portrayed by my dear friend, Lee Majors,” wrote Shatner, referring to the 1970s TV series “The Six Million Dollar Man.”

A Navy captain holds a rank equivalent to an Air Force, Marine Corps or Army colonel.

The Air Force inherited its ranking structure as an offshoot of the Army in 1947, when the U.S. Army Air Forces became a standalone branch.

Space Force kept the same structure when the Air Force Space Command split from the Air Force in December.

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In his op-ed, Shatner suggested borrowing the rank structure made famous in “Star Trek,” following in the footsteps of creator Gene Roddenberry, who chose the Navy ranks for his Starfleet despite having been an officer in the U.S. Army Air Forces.

“They made better sense when talking about a (space) ship,” explained Shatner.

It may not be too late for lawmakers to see things Shatner’s way. Space Force’s rank structure is not yet set in legislative stone.

The House version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes a provision that the Space Force must adopt the Navy’s rank structure.

The amendment, proposed by Rep. Dan CrenshawDaniel CrenshawGOP sticks to convention message amid uproar over Blake shooting The Hill’s Convention Report: Mike and Karen Pence set to headline third night of convention William Shatner rails against Space Force officer ranks in op-ed MORE (R-Texas), a former Navy SEAL, would bring back the space captain and ditch the space colonel.

Although the Senate version of the NDAA does not include a similar provision, the two bills are slated for bicameral negotiations this fall.

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The State Department announced Wednesday that it is implementing travel restrictions on some Chinese officials over Beijing’s moves to bolster its presence in the South China Sea.

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Secretary of State Mike PompeoMichael (Mike) Richard PompeoTrump breaks with precedent on second night of convention Melania Trump casts president as champion for American families Pompeo speaks to GOP convention from Jerusalem in controversial speech MORE said in a statement that the government will impose visa restrictions on Chinese officials “responsible for, or complicit in, either the large-scale reclamation, construction, or militarization of disputed outposts in the South China Sea, or the [People’s Republic of China’s] use of coercion against Southeast Asian claimants to inhibit their access to offshore resources.” 

Those targeted will now be “inadmissible” to the U.S., and restrictions could extend to their family members as well. Twenty-four Chinese state-owned companies will also face new sanctions. 

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“The United States supports a free and open South China Sea. We respect the sovereign rights of all nations, regardless of size, and seek to preserve peace and uphold freedom of the seas in a manner consistent with international law,” said Pompeo.

China’s burgeoning presence in the South China Sea is one of several points of contention in the acrimonious relationship between Washington and Beijing. China claims sovereignty over about 80 percent of a 1.4 million-square-mile section of the South China Sea and has drawn international ire by building military installations throughout the waterway. The U.S. maintains the area must remain open for free passage for all international vessels. 

Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam and other Asian nations have also made territorial claims to parts of the area.

The South China Sea is of extreme economic and geopolitical importance. Roughly a third of the world’s maritime shipping passes through the area, and the sea floor is believed to contain massive oil and natural gas reserves.

Beijing has rebuked Washington’s stance on the sea, accusing the U.S. of “flexing muscles” last month after the administration issued a formal statement declaring most of China’s claims in the region to be illegitimate.

“The United States is not a country directly involved in the disputes. However, it has kept interfering in the issue,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. said in a statement. “Under the pretext of preserving stability, it is flexing muscles, stirring up tension and inciting confrontation in the region.”

Reps. Josh GottheimerJoshua (Josh) GottheimerHouse Democrats call on State Department for information on Uighur prisoner Ekpar Asat The Hill’s Campaign Report: Florida’s coronavirus surge raises questions about GOP convention New Jersey Rep. Gottheimer wins House primary MORE (D-N.J.) and Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) asked the Trump administration on Monday to provide more details on the recent seizure of cryptocurrency assets of several major terrorist groups.

The request came two weeks after the Justice Department announced that the federal government had seized and dismantled cryptocurrency efforts of al Qaeda, ISIS and the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing.

The cyber-enabled cryptocurrency schemes used social media to raise money for the groups that included using the COVID-19 pandemic to raise funds. 

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Cleaver, the chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, International Development, and Monetary Policy, and Gottheimer, a member of the subcommittee, requested that Treasury Secretary Steven MnuchinSteven Terner MnuchinHouse poised to approve B for Postal Service in rare Saturday vote Pelosi axes idea of Saturday vote on additional COVID relief Ex-Postal Service board member testifies Mnuchin tried to politicize agency MORE and Attorney General William BarrBill BarrTrump to be briefed on police shooting of Jacob Blake How Trump can win reelection: Focus on Democrats, not himself Barr asked Rupert Murdoch to ‘muzzle’ Fox News commentator Napolitano, book claims MORE brief the subcommittee on the operation.

“It is vital that Members of the Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy receive a briefing, at the appropriate classification level, on this action, the largest ever seizure of online terrorist financing, from the Department of Justice, the Department of the Treasury on this investigation,” Cleaver and Gottheimer wrote.

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They also requested that the Treasury Department provide an “assessment” of its efforts to confront malicious actors targeting U.S. financial networks.  

“This will further inform the Subcommittee on what legislative actions we should be undertaking to provide regulators and law enforcement the proper resources and tools to continue to address the illicit use of cryptocurrency and disrupt terrorist organizations’ financial networks,” the House Democrats wrote.

Gottheimer previously joined a bipartisan group of House members late last year in pressuring Twitter to remove several accounts tied to Hamas and Hezbollah. Twitter ultimately took down the accounts. 

Gottheimer told The Hill in a statement on Tuesday that “foreign terrorist organizations, including ISIS and al Qaeda, are constantly evolving and using tactics to threaten our way of life and we must continue to stay one step ahead.”

Twitter has removed a video posted by Eric TrumpEric Frederick TrumpHillicon Valley: TikTok CEO resigns amid battle with White House | Walmart joins Microsoft in pursuing TikTok deal | Voting rights groups sue Trump over order targeting social media groups Twitter removes video Eric Trump posted over copyright complaint White House compiling ‘dossier’ on WaPo reporter’s work about Trump’s businesses MORE on Wednesday night for a copyright violation.

The video in question featured the faces of President TrumpDonald John TrumpThe Memo: Trump reaches for optimism as weapon against Biden Five takeaways on GOP’s norm-breaking convention Trump taunts Democrats in White House speech: ‘We’re here and they’re not’ MORE and his allies superimposed over Roy Williams and University of North Carolina basketball players.

“Per our copyright policy, we respond to valid copyright complaints sent to us by a copyright owner or their authorized representatives,” a Twitter spokesperson told The Hill on Thursday.

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Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, social media platforms can be held liable if they do not remove infringing content.

According to Harvard’s Lumen database, which keeps track of and analyzes DMCA notices, the University of North Carolina Athletics filed a complaint over the video earlier Thursday.

This is not the first time a Trump family member has had content taken down over copyright infringement.

The president has had posts using Nickelback music and Game of Thrones imagery taken down in the past.

While Trump’s supporters have often cried foul over such removals, social media platforms remove posts from users all across the political spectrum over copyright infringement. 

North Carolina is suing the federal government over its decision to try to locate oil and gas off the state’s coast despite objections from the state. 

In June, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) allowed a company to move ahead with seismic testing, which uses blasts from air guns to try to detect oil and gas deposits in the ocean. 

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This decision overrode an objection from the state, which opposed the testing.

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The seismic testing is a step that comes ahead of offshore drilling, and NOAA’s decision falls in line with the administration’s goals of expanding oil and gas production. 

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, North Carolina’s government argued that NOAA did not adequately show that testing would significantly advance the national interest and also didn’t adequately show that the adverse impacts would be minor. 

The filing also said that the blasts could affect commercial and recreational fishing, tourism, research and endangered species in the area, including the North Atlantic right whale whose population has dwindled to about 400. 

“Protecting our state’s beautiful natural resources — and the critical economic benefits they bring to our state — is one of the most important mandates of my job,” North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein (D) said in a statement. “North Carolinians have made their views crystal clear: We do not want drilling off our coast.”

Spokespeople for NOAA and the Commerce Department didn’t immediately respond to The Hill’s requests for comment. 

Secretary of State Mike PompeoMichael (Mike) Richard PompeoOVERNIGHT ENERGY:Trump says he will tour damage from Hurricane Laura | Park Service under fire for role in GOP convention | US officially joins global trillion tree planting initiative Biden knocks Trump for using White House as ‘prop’ for convention Second night of GOP convention outdraws Democrats’ event with 19.4 million viewers MORE has approved plans to halt some U.S. aid to Ethiopia, Foreign Policy reported on Friday.

The halt in aid comes as the U.S. mediates a dispute over a dam on the Nile River that’s pitted Ethiopia against Egypt and Sudan, according to Foreign Policy. The decision could impact up to $130 million of assistance to programs including security, counter-terrorism and anti-human trafficking.

“There’s still progress being made, we still see a viable path forward here,” a U.S. official told the magazine. “The U.S. role is to do everything it can to help facilitate an agreement between the three countries that balance their interests. At the end of the day it has to be an agreement that works for these three countries.”

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The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill. 

Ethiopia and Egypt are at a standstill in negotiations over how the dam on a tributary of the Nile will be managed. 

Egypt and Sudan, which depend on the Nile for much of their fresh-water, are opposed to any development they say will impact the flow downstream, including the 6,000-megawatt power plant Ethiopia hopes to develop at the dam.

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The Trump administration plans to purchase nearly all of the new rapid COVID-19 tests that Abbott Labs will manufacture this year, a White House official confirmed.

The administration will purchase 150 million tests as part of the $750 million deal, which President TrumpDonald John TrumpThe Memo: Trump reaches for optimism as weapon against Biden Five takeaways on GOP’s norm-breaking convention Trump taunts Democrats in White House speech: ‘We’re here and they’re not’ MORE is expected to announce later Thursday during his speech to accept the GOP presidential nomination during the Republican National Convention.

The plan was first reported by Politico.

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Abbott’s BinaxNOW is a potentially breakthrough new tool that can deliver results in 15 minutes. It is entirely self-contained, meaning there is no extra lab equipment needed to run the test, and large volumes of tests can be performed simultaneously. 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Abbott an emergency use authorization for the tests Wednesday.

The company plans to begin shipping them by the end of the month, with “tens of millions” of tests in September, and 50 million tests a month by the beginning of October.

“This is a major development that will help our country to remain open, get Americans back to work, and kids back to school,” White House strategic communications director Alyssa Farah said in a statement. “The Trump Administration is proud to partner with Abbott labs to make this purchase possible to help the American people.”

The move would represent a significant expansion of the current U.S. testing capabilities, which have often not been able to keep up with demand.

The administration did not say where the tests will be sent once they are purchased.

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The test uses a nasal swab and a small reactive card. Under the FDA’s emergency authorization, it can be administered at patient care facilities by a range of health care workers, including physicians, school nurses and pharmacists with minimal training. 

Antigen tests are not as reliable as molecular tests but they are much easier and cheaper to scale up to the capacity needed for effective virus surveillance and control. 

However, the Abbott test is only authorized for use in patients suspected to have an active COVID-19 infection, meaning it is not authorized to test asymptomatic or presymptomatic people. 

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The BinaxNOW is 97.1 percent sensitive, meaning it correctly diagnoses those with coronavirus 97 percent of the time, and 98.5 percent specific, meaning an infection is correctly ruled out that often.