White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said he “had no pleasure” in contradicting former President Donald Trump about the Covid-19 pandemic and feels more free to be able to discuss science without facing the reaction of the new government.
“The idea that you can come up here and talk about what you know, what evidence, what science is and know what it is – let science talk. It’s a somewhat liberating feeling,” said Fauci Thursday in his first White House press conference in months.
Fauci, who now advises President Joe Biden, said he has no pleasure in contradicting Trump, who often makes false claims about the seriousness of the pandemic and also about the drugs being developed to fight it.
“It was very clear that there were things that were said, whether about things like hydroxychloroquine and other things, that really [were] uncomfortable because they were not based on scientific facts, “said Fauci.” I can tell you, I have no pleasure in being in a situation of contradicting the president, so it was really something that you didn’t feel you could really say and there will be no repercussions on that. “
He said it is “a somewhat liberating feeling” to talk about science and “that’s it”.
During the pandemic, Trump repeatedly criticized the government’s top adviser for coronavirus and even suggested firing him. Meanwhile, Fauci questioned a series of Trump comments, including his repeated claims that the United States’ fight against the virus was “turning around” when, in fact, tens of thousands of people were infected daily.
Fauci made a not-so-subtle criticism of his former boss, when asked how the pandemic could have played out differently if a team like Biden’s had been there from the start. “One of the things we will do is be completely transparent, open and honest,” said Fauci. “If things go wrong, don’t point fingers, but correct them and make everything we do based on science and evidence.”
Fauci said he had discussed these same priorities with Biden about 15 minutes before entering the instruction room.
Trump, in contrast, has consistently minimized the threat of the virus. He regularly contested any criticism of his government’s approach to the pandemic and said the United States, which has the highest death toll in Covid than any other country in the world, responded to the virus better than almost any other nation. While Fauci and Trump’s coronavirus task force held daily briefings near the start of the outbreak, these regular updates were discarded after Trump asked scientists if they could inject disinfectants or light into the body to kill the virus.
The press conference on Thursday came after Fauci told the World Health Organization earlier in the day that the United States would remain members of the international agency under Biden. In May, Trump announced that the U.S. would withdraw from WHO, but the process was not expected to be completed by July this year.
Fauci said the Biden government plans to work with the other 193 member states to help “strengthen and reform” the United Nations health agency.