Tom Frieden, who served as head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under President Obama, has been arrested in relation to allegations of sexual misconduct including forcible touching, sex abuse, and harassment.
CNBC reports that Frieden was arrested on these charges after inappropriately touching a woman in October 2017.
According to ABC 7, the Democrat has been accused of groping a 55-year-old woman’s backside while she was in his apartment the previous year.
Frieden also served as the Commissioner of Health of the City of New York under Michael Bloomberg.
ON AIR: Discussing the charges against Frieden with @kshaughnessy2 https://t.co/meqCtkXsJu pic.twitter.com/cT2gpCbteA
— Myles Miller (@MylesMill) August 24, 2018
The arrest marks a remarkable fall from grace for Frieden, who was tapped as head of the CDC in 2009.
“I think the administration selected Tom Frieden because he can take public health to a new place,” Jeffrey Levi, executive director of Trust for America’s Health, a nonprofit public health advocacy organization, told the New York Times. “He’s a transformational leader.”
In 2014, Trump took a shot at administration leadership such as Frieden’s during the Ebola breakout, calling them “incompetent” for allowing a patient to come to the United States.
Frieden handed in his resignation on the day that Donald Trump was sworn in as President.
Ebola patient will be brought to the U.S. in a few days – now I know for sure that our leaders are incompetent. KEEP THEM OUT OF HERE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2014
In 2017, Frieden publicly criticized the President for making budget cuts to the CDC saying it would lead to “increased illness, death, (and) risks to Americans.”
“Americans (would) be less safe,” he also claimed.
Proposed CDC budget: unsafe at any level of enactment. Would increase illness, death, risks to Americans, and health care costs.
— Dr. Tom Frieden (@DrFrieden) May 23, 2017
Frieden’s star power rose to such levels that he had been named to Time Magazine’s list of 100 Most Influential People in 2015.
“Hiring Tom Frieden was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made—and one of the best decisions President Obama has made,” Bloomberg wrote for the honor.
“Tom has the single most important quality that you want in a public servant: fearlessness,” the former mayor added.
Perhaps he could have used a touch of modesty or chivalry to help prevent him from (allegedly) grabbing a woman by the buttocks.
The groping incident was reported to authorities in July, and Frieden turned himself in on Friday.
It will be interesting to see if prominent Democrats such as Obama and Hillary Clinton denounce their colleague in the midst of the #MeToo movement.
