White House blocks Dr Anthony Fauci from testifying about Covid-19 outbreak
The White House is blocking Dr Anthony Fauci from testifying before a House subcommittee investigating the coronavirus outbreak and the US response.
President Donald Trump and the White House don’t want Dr Anthony Fauci, who is in charge of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to testify before the House subcommittee investigating the coronavirus outbreak and the US response.
Dr Fauci banned from testifying
The White House argued that it would not be the “right way” for the key official to use his time in the middle of the pandemic.
“While the Trump Administration continues its whole-of-government response to Covid-19, including safely opening up America again and expediting vaccine development, it is counterproductive to have the very individuals involved in those efforts appearing at congressional hearings,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said
A senior administration official rejected that preventing Fauci’s testimony had anything to do with wanting to keep the doctor, whose profile has grown exponentially during the pandemic, from revealing information that could be damaging to the White House.
“It’s not muzzling, it’s not blocking, it’s simply trying to ensure we’re able to balance the need for oversight, the legitimate need for oversight, with their responsibilities to handle Covid-19 work at their respective agencies and departments,” said the White House official, who noted that health risks entailed in moving around in public places were also a factor.
The obvious contradition
The same concerns from the White House don’t seem to exist for Fauci’s scheduled appearance at the GOP-led Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on 12 May. Also the White House has no problem taking two or three hours Dr. Fauci’s busy day so that he can give information to Donald Trump before his daily briefings and then the President provides bad information to the public and gets into fights with the press.