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President Donald Trump has recently restarted his coronavirus press conferences as the number of cases rises in the United States. However, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease Director Dr. Anthony Fauci and Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx were not in attendance again on Wednesday, July 22.
During the press conference, Kaitlan Collins of CNN asked Trump why “the health experts” weren’t at the coronavirus briefings with him. Trump said they were briefing him before the meetings and Birx was “right outside.” But, he added, he decided that not having them in the conference with him would be a more “concise” way of handling things.
Trump Said the New Approach ‘Seems to Be Working Out Very Well’
You can watch the moment when Trump was asked about Fauci and Birx at 17:25 in the video below.
Trump responded: “Because they’re briefing me, I’m meeting them. I just spoke to Dr. Fauci, Dr. Birx is right outside. And they’re giving me all of, everything they know … as of this point in time. I’m giving the information to you. And I think it’s probably a very concise way of doing it. It seems to be working out very well.”
Trump then added: “They’re very much involved. They’re very much… the relationships are all very good… The relationships that we have with the doctors, with everybody working on the virus has been, I think, extraordinary. Kayleigh is here and I think you would say the same thing. You work with them all the time.”
On Tuesday, Fauci Said He Had Last Spoken to Trump the Prior Week
Dr. Anthony Fauci says he was not invited to the White House coronavirus briefing today and says the last time he spoke to President Trump was last week t.co/b3a787uR2n
The day before, Fauci told CNN that he wasn’t invited to the White House coronavirus briefing on Tuesday and he last spoke with Trump the week before. He said at the time that he was assuming he wasn’t going to be there on Tuesday because it was starting in just a short time and he was still at the NIH.
“I had a good long conversation with him towards the end of last week,” Fauci said on Tuesday. “I think it was, might’ve been Thursday.”
“People have their opinion about my reaction to things. I consider myself more a realist than an alarmist,” Dr. Anthony Fauci says about being called an “alarmist” by President Trump t.co/rxkbHQtObM
Trump’s response on Wednesday caused some people on Twitter to wonder if Fauci had spoken with Trump since Fauci’s CNN interview, since Fauci had said the day before that they last talked on Thursday.
On Monday, during an Instagram Live interview with Maria Shriver, Fauci seemed surprised to learn about the new coronavirus briefings. He said he hadn’t gotten official word about the next one.
Fauci Said He’s a ‘Realist,’ Not an ‘Alarmist’
In the CNN interview, Fauci responded to Trump recently calling him an “alarmist,” saying he considered himself to be more of a “realist.”
“People have their opinion about my reaction to things. I consider myself more a realist than an alarmist,” Dr. Anthony Fauci says about being called an “alarmist” by President Trump t.co/rxkbHQtObM
“People have their opinion about my reaction to things. I consider myself more of a realist than an alarmist. … I have always thought of myself as a realist when it comes to this.”
Trump has been accused of trying to undermine Fauci’s credibility. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told CNN that these efforts are “potentially very, very dangerous.”
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