White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany scolded the New York Times on Tuesday for a “heinous” attack on Dr. Deborah Birx, and concluded her report by telling the Gray Lady that she should be ashamed.
“Dr. Birx is an extraordinary doctor who served in this country, devoted her time to serving our country as an Army Colonel. She served as an ambassador for PEPFAR, where she spent her life fighting AIDS and HIV abroad, and The attack I saw on her in The New York Times is terrible, without any fact, “said McEnany, holding up a large coronavirus data folder.
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“Dr. Birx for weeks has been sending this data to the governors, 400 pages of data to our governors, so that they have the best information to make the best decisions for their people and their respective states. I have not seen anyone studying the data like Dr. Birx did and the attack on her was downright awful and appalling, and The New York Times should be very ashamed of themselves, “said McEnany.
The press secretary left the podium and ended the briefing while journalists shouted questions.
McEnany, it seems, was referring to a story published Monday titled, “Inside Trump’s Failure: The Hurry to Give Up the Leading Role in the Virus.”
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The piece, which was written by five reporters, painted Dr. Birx as the member of the coronavirus task force that emphasized positive information to President Trump during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Dr. Birx was more central than was publicly known in the West Wing trial that the virus was on a downward path. Her colleagues described her as dedicated to public health and working to exhaustion to get the correct data But his assessment based on the model, however, did not take into account a vital variable: how Mr. Trump’s haste to urge a return to normality would help undermine social distancing and other measures that kept the numbers low. ” The Times reported.
The report noted that Dr. Birx “was given an office near the Situation Room and roamed freely in the West Wing, fully embracing her role as a member of the President’s team.”
The document indicated that Dr. Birx differs from Dr. Anthony Fauci in the importance of models that predict the possible severity of the pandemic.
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“Inside the White House, Dr. Birx was the leading evangelist for the idea that the virus threat was fading,” the Times wrote. “As the pandemic worsened, Dr. Fauci’s darker view of the circumstances was countered by assurances apparently offered by Dr. Birx’s data.”
The story continued to criticize Dr. Birx for a variety of issues, including believing that the United States’ COVID-19 response would reflect Italy and the specific models it used.
The New York Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
