Penile implant specialist with history of far-right comments led hantavirus presser

As the Trump administration sought to reassure Americans this week that a hantavirus outbreak posed little risk to the public, Dr. Brian Christine, one of the top public health officials in charge of infectious disease policy, appeared before reporters in Nebraska, promising a “science-based” and “transparency-based” response.

Before joining the Trump administration last year, Christine was an Alabama-based urologist specializing in penile implants. He has little experience in public health and has a history of making far-right comments and promoting conspiracy theories. He said the Covid pandemic had led to a wider government conspiracy to control people, compared the Biden administration to Nazi Germany and suggested the Covid vaccine had little effect in stopping the pandemic.

He previously hosted a YouTube show called “Erection Connection,” a professional YouTube series on erectile dysfunction for his fellow urologists.

A CNN review of archived podcast episodes, social media posts and radio appearances found that Christine repeatedly presented public health institutions, the federal government and pandemic-era policies as tools used to target conservative and religious Americans.

In comments made on a podcast he hosted while running for Alabama State Senate in 2022, Christine questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election.

He also argued for a ban on abortion with no exceptions in cases of rape or incest and suggested that there may have been a global effort involving George Soros and figures associated with the World Economic Forum’s “Great Reset” to use the pandemic to force small businesses to close.

Christine has repeatedly criticized Covid mandates, arguing that vaccines have prevented neither disease nor transmission, despite evidence that vaccines have prevented millions of deaths.

Andrew Nixon, deputy assistant secretary for media relations at the US Department of Health and Human Services, told CNN: “Assistant Secretary of Health Admiral Christine remains focused on executing President Trump and Secretary Kennedy’s agenda to Make America Healthy Again and fulfilling President Trump’s executive order to protect our children from chemical and surgical mutilation. »

Christine, a surgeon who moved directly from private practice to leading the federal government’s public health response, took office last November as assistant secretary for health.

While some of his views had already been reported by the Washington Post during his nomination process, CNN reviewed several additional podcast episodes that appeared to have been removed from YouTube and Apple Podcasts before his confirmation, but remained publicly available on Vimeo, where they had been embedded on his former campaign website.

His leadership position at the Department of Health and Human Services places him at the helm of offices responsible for family planning, women’s health, infectious disease policy, and the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, the uniformed health service of more than 5,000 public health officers who work across the federal government and deploy during public health emergencies. As head of the Public Health Service, Christine is also a four-star admiral in charge of the uniformed service.

Since taking office, Christine has led efforts to restrict gender transition care through federal funding blocks, although the Wall Street Journal reported that her private practice was advertising treatment of transgender people for erectile dysfunction — a claim Christine has denied. His personal website also stated that his practice offered “erectile dysfunction in female-to-male gender reassignment patients.”

Christine has frequently criticized the Biden administration.

“There are similar things happening in Germany that are happening right now in the United States,” Christine said in a 2022 episode of “Common Sense.” “There are no concentration camps in the United States, but there’s no doubt that conservatives feel threatened. There’s no doubt that conservatives like me and others feel like the government is being used as a weapon against us.”

A since-deleted Twitter account of Christine also showed comments consistent with MAGA activism, including efforts to overturn the 2020 election. In December 2020, Christine retweeted a call from conservative activist Charlie Kirk to urge Republicans to object to the results of the January 6, 2021 election.

“BREAKING: Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley WILL OBJECT to the January 6 election results. This is what courage looks like. This is what fighting means! RT if all other Republicans should do the same!” » reads the message, which was retweeted by Christine.

Christine’s story also showed repeated engagement with Vernon Jones, the former Democratic state representative from Georgia who changed holidays to support Donald Trump and later became a supporter of 2020 election fraud claims.

Christine’s podcast, called “Common Sense,” focused on abortion, Covid restrictions, transgender rights, religion and what he described as “wokism” in medicine and government.

In an episode titled “When Health Care Is Used Against You,” from October 2022, Christine argued that the pandemic was used by the government to control Americans and influence the outcome of the 2020 election.

“This is probably the most important thing that happened during the pandemic. There’s no doubt that the pandemic was used to influence the outcome of the 2020 election,” Christine said, later urging listeners to watch “2000 Mules,” the debunked election fraud conspiracy film whose distributor later apologized and pulled it from circulation.

In the same episode, Christine claimed that the Covid vaccine “ultimately proved not to prevent disease or prevent the spread of disease.”

“We know there have been people who have died from it, but we also know that most people who are infected will not die. Most people who are infected will not get sick. But the government and the left have used the pandemic to control people,” he said.

Criticism of vaccination mandates

“We were forced to get vaccinated, how? Well, the government said if you don’t get vaccinated, you might lose your job. You might lose your income. There were threats that way. And so a lot of people were forced to get vaccinated and take booster shots. And if anyone wanted to get vaccinated, I think that’s fine. But forcing people to get vaccinated is absolutely wrong.”