HHS official placed on leave over social media posts
A Department of Health and Human Services staffer has been placed on administrative leave after he shared conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated claims attacking everyone from Hillary Clinton to Ted Cruz.
Jon Cordova, the principal deputy assistant secretary for administration at HHS, shared links to right-wing blogs and websites claiming Gold Star father Khizr Khan is a “Muslim Brotherhood agent,” CNN reported.
Cordova also claimed Khan, the father of deceased Army Captain Humayun Khan, was paid $375,000 by the Clinton Foundation.
Cordova, who worked in communications for the Trump campaign before joining the HHS last year, has been placed on administrative leave, a HHS spokesperson said.
He also peddled claims of a Ted Cruz sex scandal and shared unsubstantiated posts alleging the Texas senator was visiting prostitutes and hiding real information about his birth and education.
In other controversial social media posts, Cordova attacked Hillary Clinton for photoshopping her rallies to make them look bigger, shared a fake quote attributed to her, and called her a “slimy trailer trash huckster.”
He also called Democrats the “real racists” in one post dating back to 2013, while making bizarre claims on Twitter about boycotting Budweiser due to their support for “jihadis.”
He also made false statements saying Chris Harper-Mercer, a 26-year-old gunman who killed nine people at Umpqua Community College in 2015 was Muslim.
