Dra. Deborah Birx, the former coordinator of Trump’s White House coronavirus task force, says nothing in her four decades of public service prepared her for the chaotic Trump White House or the politically charged handling of the Trump White House. pandemic, and told “Face the Nation” that he “always” considered leaving his place.
In an interview aired Sunday on Face the Nation, Birx told moderator Margaret Brennan that even close colleagues she had worked with for decades on the AIDS virus questioned her political allegiance. amid a barrage of criticism against Trump’s White House response to the virus.
“I mean, why would you want to do it every day? My colleagues I knew for decades … decades in that experience, because I was in the White House, decided that I had become this politician, even though they had known me forever. I had to ask myself every morning, there is something I think can make me useful in responding to this pandemic and it is something I was asked every night, “he told Brennan.
Birx, who had been appointed by former President Obama as administrator of PEPFAR (President’s Plan Emergency for AIDS Relief), joined the Trump administration in March 2020 to help coordinate the COVID-19 response.
He added: “When it became a point where it got nowhere and it was like before the election, I wrote a very detailed communication plan of what was to happen the day after the election and how it had gone. and there were many promises that this would happen. “
Birx explained to Brennan that it was clear at the time that the 2020 election was a factor in reducing the working group’s communication on the deadly virus. She said she was “censored” by the White House, blocked for a time for making national media, but insisted she never intentionally withheld information from the public.
More than 400,000 Americans have died after the virus and millions have lost their jobs as a result of the economic consequences.
In his interview, the career health officer addressed the criticism he received at the end of his term in the White House and the subsequent stress his family suffered for spending time in a family vacation home. after the Thanksgiving holidays, although guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans. not to travel or mingle with those who do not belong to your home at that time.
He told Brennan that he plans to retire “in the next four or six weeks” from his current role at CDC, ending a four-decade career in public service as an army officer, administrator of AIDS research. of PEPFAR and, finally, a tumultuous run as one of the top U.S. officials guiding the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Questions were also raised on Friday about Birx’s role in the current administration, as CBS News’ Steven Portnoy asked the White House press secretary if Birx was still part of the COVID response team. 19 of President Biden.
“I’ll have to go back,” press secretary Jen Psaki said. “That’s an excellent question.”
More of Birx’s interview will air this Sunday on “Face the Nation” on CBS at 10:30 am EST.