A U.S. congressional panel released a new report on Monday detailing efforts by the Trump administration to politicize federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis accused the White House under former U.S. President Donald Trump of undermining "public health to benefit the former president's political goals." 

Trump and his top aides repeatedly attacked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s scientists, compromised the agency's public health guidance, and suppressed scientific reports in an effort to downplay the seriousness of the coronavirus, Congressman James Clyburn, chair of the panel, said in a statement. 

Trump's administration at a crucial time in the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 blocked the CDC from adopting a federal mandate requiring face masks on airline flights and other forms of transit, according to the report. 

"This prioritization of politics, contempt for science, and refusal to follow the advice of public health experts harmed the nation's ability to respond effectively to the coronavirus crisis and put Americans at risk," Clyburn alleged. 

The investigation uncovered that Trump's appointees sought to influence the CDC's scientific reports, attempting to change the publication process, manipulate the content, or block the dissemination of at least 19 different reports that they deemed to be politically harmful to the administration.

This report is the third in a series by the panel. The first detailed the Trump administration's embrace of herd immunity via mass infection strategy well before vaccines were available and the second alleged Trump administration's pressure campaigns targeting the Food and Drug Administration's scientific decision-making on COVID-19. 

The U.S. has reported nearly 97 million COVID-19 cases and more than 1 million deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. 

(With input from agencies)