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Former Trump advisor joins company that makes hazardous air cleaners

An older man in a business suit listens to a woman in a business suit.

Enlarge / US President Donald Trump, right, listens to Deborah Birx, coronavirus response coordinator, as she speaks during a news conference in the White House in Washington, DC, on Thursday, April 23, 2020. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg)

One of the most indelible moments of Deborah Birx’s controversial time as White House coronavirus response coordinator for the Trump administration came on April 23, 2020. That’s when she sat quietly to the side of the former president while he recklessly suggested that people could rid themselves of the pandemic virus by taking in or injecting themselves with hazardous disinfectants.

Since leaving the administration, Birx has spoken about how “extraordinarily uncomfortable” she was in the moment, telling ABC News recently: “I still think about it every day.”

But, at the same time she was expressing that regret, Birx was also in the process of joining ActivePure—an air-cleaning company that makes products that could lead to people inhaling hazardous disinfectants or byproducts, all in the name of getting rid of the pandemic coronavirus.

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