As senior White House officials criticized the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, including a prominent aide who shared a mocking cartoon, four former directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Diseases wrote an opinion warning that “undermines” science and “voluntary disregard for public health guidelines” is “leading to a sharp increase in infections and deaths” from the new coronavirus.
“The four of us led the CDC over a period of more than 15 years, spanning both Republican and Democratic administrations,” Tom Frieden, Jeffrey Koplan, David Satcher and Richard Besser wrote in an opinion piece published Tuesday in The Washington Post. “We cannot recall our collective tenure once when political pressure led to a change in the interpretation of scientific evidence.”
Trump has lobbied CDC to change the guidelines for schools, a move that the four former CDC principals called “extraordinary.” They praised the CDC experts.
“Unfortunately, their sound science is being challenged with firing from supporters, sowing confusion and mistrust at a time when the American people need leadership, experience, and clarity,” wrote the former directors, who served under Republican and Democratic presidents.
The unusual rejection came when the White House tried to discredit Fauci, who has provided a more forceful and sobering assessment of the state of the epidemic than the one the President and his top advisers have attempted to project, one they consider politically inconvenient as campaigns Trump. for reelection
The day before, Trump shared a message on Twitter accusing doctors and the CDC of “lying” to influence the November elections; no evidence was provided and no further details were provided.
The criticism conforms to a pattern by the Trump administration that downplays public health experts and prioritizes an economic recovery, which the president considers key to his chances for reelection.
Over the weekend, the White House provided various media outlets with a misleading list of comments made by Fauci, in an effort to weaken him.
On Monday, the White House tried to deny that there was a behind-the-scenes campaign to discredit the country’s leading infectious disease expert.
“No opposition investigations are being launched at journalists. The Washington Post asked us a very specific question, and that question was whether President Trump noticed that Dr. Fauci had made some mistakes, and we provided a direct answer to what was a direct question, “said McEnany.
But despite denial of a private smear campaign, one of the president’s top aides made no effort to hide his disdain, voicing criticism of Fauci at first glance on social media.
White House director of social media and deputy director of communications staff Dan Scavino, who has been by the president’s side since the 2016 campaign, published a cartoon depicting Dr. Fauci as a faucet dragging down the U.S. economy. United by the drain on Facebook.
“Sorry, Dr. Faucet! At least you know if I’m going to disagree with a colleague, like you, it is done publicly, and not cowardly, behind leaked journalists. See you tomorrow! “Scavino wrote in a caption accompanying the cartoon.
Countering further the White House claim that there is no concerted campaign to undermine Fauci, one of the president’s informal outside advisers, conservative economist Stephen Moore, told The Daily Beast on Monday that he is working on a more memorandum. detailed titled “Dr. Mal” for the White House for the express purpose of “going after Fauci.”
“We are working on a memo that shows how many times Dr. Fauci has been wrong during not only [this pandemic]but throughout his career, “Moore told The Daily Beast, who works on the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.
According to The Daily Beast, Moore said he intends to send the final product to the president’s desk for “publicity.”
On Monday, Trump himself shared a tweet that he despised Fauci, misinterpreting a comment Fauci had made months ago, before telling reporters later that day that he liked Fauci “personally”, he had “a very good relationship” with him and considered him “a very nice person”.
But, he added, “I don’t always agree with him.”
While the President and the White House have tried to minimize the appearance of conflict that they have directly fueled, Dr. Fauci has been increasingly neglected within the task force. He is no longer a regular presence at media group briefings led by the vice president, he did not participate in the vice president’s weekly call with the governors on Monday, and it has been two months since Fauci says he has personally informed the president. .
Although many weeks have passed since Fauci met with the president, he did arrive at the White House the day after officials released anonymous information to belittle him for a meeting with Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, authorities confirmed.
Admiral Brett Giroir, the evidence czar of the Trump administration and another senior member of the task force, was questioned Tuesday on NBC’s “Today” show about the White House attack on Fauci. Instead of refuting the memorandum in defense of his colleague, Giroir seemed to accept the points and “none of us is always right, that’s the way it is.”
“Look, none of us are always right and we admit that I think we have a good relationship. The vice president listens to all of us, we meet regularly during the working group. We are just going to keep our heads down and keep working together, ”said Giroir. “None of us is always right, that’s the way it is, that’s why we work together and will continue to do so.”
And despite the increase in coronavirus cases in much of the country, Girior expressed cautious optimism about the country’s position in the fight against the virus, saying that there are “early indicators that we are turning the corner” and that ” we’re seeing some early light at the end of this tunnel. ”
Surveys have shown that Americans trust Fauci in the coronavirus significantly more than they trust Trump. In one done by Fox News last month, 72% of Americans approved of Fauci’s response to the pandemic, while 44% approved of Trump’s response; the president’s approval was even lower, 33%, in an ABC News / Ipsos poll conducted last week.
Because the White House has tried to belittle Fauci, it has found support not only from the public health community and Democrats, but also from Trump’s own party.
Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, a physician who worked as an obstetrician-gynecologist before entering politics, told the Dallas Morning News that he did not think it was “particularly helpful to be critical of someone who is working in this space and doing what best they can to try and help the country through a very, very difficult infectious disease problem. “
The Association of American Medical Colleges also released a statement on Monday that strongly supports Fauci, saying he was “extremely concerned and alarmed at efforts to discredit Anthony Fauci, MD, our nation’s leading infectious disease expert.”
“As we see from the increase in COVID-19 cases in areas that have reopened,” wrote the association’s top officials, “science and facts, not illusions or politics, should guide the United States’ response to this pandemic. ”
“The United States should applaud Dr. Fauci for his service and follow his advice,” they added, “without undermining his credibility at this critical time.”
ABC News’ Ben Siegel, Anne Flaherty and Gary Langer contributed to this report.
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