Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House health adviser, said he took “no pleasure” in contradicting former President Donald Trump about the Covid-19 pandemic and that he feels more liberated to be able to discuss the science without opposing the new government.
“The idea that you can come here and talk about what you know, what evidence, what science is, and know it is – let science speak. It’s kind of a liberating feeling,” Fauci said in his first White House press conference in months.
Fauci, who now advises President Joe Biden, said he took no pleasure in contradicting Trump, who often made false claims about the severity of the pandemic and about drugs being developed to combat it.
“It was very clear that there were things that were said, whether it was things like hydroxychloroquine and the like, [were] uncomfortable because they weren’t based on scientific facts, “Fauci said.” I can tell you I don’t enjoy being in a situation where I contradict the president at all, so it was really something you didn’t think you could actually say anything and it wouldn’t have any repercussions whatsoever. “
He said it is “a bit of a liberating feeling” to talk about science and “that’s it.”
During the pandemic, Trump repeatedly criticized the administration’s chief coronavirus advisor and even suggested firing him. Meanwhile, Fauci has objected to a number of Trump’s comments, including his repeated claims that the US fight against the virus “rounded the corner” when, in fact, tens of thousands of people were infected daily.
Fauci did a less-subtle dig at his former boss when asked how the pandemic could have turned out differently if a team like Biden’s had been in place from the very beginning. “One of the things we’re going to do is be completely transparent, open and honest,” Fauci said. “When things go wrong, don’t point fingers, but to correct them and make everything we do based on science and evidence.”
Fauci said he discussed those same priorities with Biden about 15 minutes before entering the briefing room.
Trump, on the other hand, had consistently downplayed the threat posed by the virus. He regularly contested any criticism of his administration’s approach to the pandemic, claiming that the US, which has the highest Covid death toll of any country in the world, had responded better to the virus than almost any other country. While the Fauci and Trump coronavirus task force held daily briefings at the start of the outbreak, those regular updates were eventually dropped after Trump asked scientists whether they could inject disinfectants or light into the body to kill the virus.
The press conference came Thursday after Fauci told the World Health Organization earlier in the day that the US would remain a member of the international agency led by Biden. In May, Trump announced that the US would withdraw from the WHO, but the trial was not expected to close until July.
Fauci said the Biden administration planned to work with the other 193 member states to “strengthen and reform” the United Nations health agency.