WASHINGTON Michael Caputo, the new spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, is said to have suppressed xenophobic tweets before the start of his new week of role.

Caputo, a Republican political agent who worked on President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, deleted almost all of his Twitter feed before April 12, according to a CNN report. He began his new post as assistant secretary for public affairs at HHS on April 15.

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Many of the tweets subsequently deleted reviewed by CNN included xenophobic comments and related to the coronavirus.

“Millions of Chinese suck the blood of rabid bats as an appetizer”,he tweetedin March, while using a vulgar term on eating anteaters. He said the same thing on his podcast a few days later.

The new HHS spokesperson also asked another Twitter user, “Don’t you have a bat to eat?”

Caputo seems to bereference the fact that the analysis of genetic sequencing suggests that the virus originates from bats and has been transferred to humans by an intermediate species not yet identified. In early February, Chinese researchers published work suggesting that the intermediate species may be the pangolin (also called scaly anteater), although this work has not been peer-reviewed.

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Caputo has also lowered the severity of the virus several times, claiming that the fear that surrounded him was created by the media and the Democrats to politically discredit Trump, and they wanted to kill hundreds of thousands of Americans.

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Caputo tweeted Thursday that he will now leave his “official position” and told his supporters to “enjoy the ride” with a GIF.

Caputo told CNN that he was an advocate for the president, but that he is now a servant of the American people, and some may be disappointed, but my tweets will be different.

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Many internet users have called for Caputo’s withdrawal following CNN’s report.

Representative Jackie Speier, D-Calif., Tweeted that Caputo should be terminated immediately after the report.

Jamie Raskin, D-Md., called for the departure of Caputo, saying that “his disturbed, profane and hateful polemics disqualify him for a public job and he should quickly return to the rock under which he lives. The Americans of Asian descent do not deserve this appalling insult and we do not more.”

Former representative Joe Walsh, who briefly ran against Trump in the GOP primary, tweeted, “Michael Caputo is a corrupt thug. He now works for the Trump administration. Hell fits perfectly.”

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USA TODAY contacted HHS for comment and did not immediately respond.

Caputo’s tweets report comes a day after an HHS official who helped develop a coronavirus vaccine said he had been removed from office because he questioned the value of drugs being pushed by Trump.

Rick Bright, who until this week was director of the HHS Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), said he was speaking “because to fight this deadly virus, science and not politics or cronyism must lead the way. “

Contributor: Matthew Brown

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