Senior HHS official placed on leave for promoting unfounded claims and conspiracy theories on social

By Andrew Kaczynski and Nathan McDermott, CNN

Updated 6:13 PM ET, Tue February 20, 2018

Jon Cordova, principal deputy assistant secretary for administration at HHS.

(CNN)A top official at the Department of Health and Human Services has been placed on administrative leave after a CNN KFile inquiry while the agency investigates social media postings in which he pushed unfounded smears on social media.

Jon Cordova serves as the principal deputy assistant secretary for administration at HHS. A KFile review of Cordova's social media accounts found that he pushed stories filled with baseless claims and conspiracy theories, including stories that claimed Gold Star father Khizr Khan is a "Muslim Brotherhood agent" and made baseless claims about Sen. Ted Cruz's personal life."Mr. Cordova is currently on administrative leave while we look into this issue further," a HHS spokesperson said in a statement. Cordova did not respond to a request for comment.

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