CNN's Erin Burnett criticizes President Donald Trump for saying coronavirus task force member Deborah Birx was "pathetic" for caving to Democrats after she after she warned the pandemic is "extraordinarily widespread" in the US.
Trump has insisted that the rising number of COVID-19 cases is merely the result of increased testing and not an indication that the spread of the disease has gotten worse, but Birx said that the country was in a "new phase" of the pandemic.
"So Crazy Nancy Pelosi said horrible things about Dr. Deborah Birx, going after her because she was too positive on the very good job we are doing on combatting the China Virus, including Vaccines & Therapeutics. In order to counter Nancy, Deborah took the bait & hit us. Pathetic!"
So Crazy Nancy Pelosi said horrible things about Dr. Deborah Birx, going after her because she was too positive on the very good job we are doing on combatting the China Virus, including Vaccines & Therapeutics. In order to counter Nancy, Deborah took the bait & hit us. Pathetic!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2020
Pelosi was critical of Birx and the rest of the administration in an interview with ABC News' Martha Raddatz.
"I think the president is spending -- spreading disinformation about the virus and she is his -- she is his appointee," Pelosi said. "So, I don't have confidence there, no."
When told of this during a CNN interview, Birx said she had "tremendous respect" for Pelosi, and then criticized a New York Times article that accused her of having an overly optimistic attitude toward the pandemic. Birx said that while she had said that there has been an improvement in the New York metropolitan area, there were new outbreaks in Houston, Baltimore, New Haven, and Washington, D.C., as well as "ongoing cases" in Boston and Chicago.
"This was not a pollyannish view," Birx went on. "I’ve never been called pollyannish, or non-scientific, or non-data driven. I will stake my 40-year career on those fundamental principles of using data to implement better programs and save lives."
Dr Birx - WH coronavirus response coordinator - told me she agreed with CDC that school districts with 5 percent or higher infection rate should stay closed.. despite push from POTUS and DeVos. Watch below https://t.co/2ND5wydZgh— Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) August 2, 2020
She also the spread of the virus is worse than earlier this year, saying “It is extraordinarily widespread.” The media is already pitting what Birx said against what Trump said on Friday:
Dr. Birx today @CNN "What we are seeing today is different from March and April. It is extraordinarily widespread." Pres Trump on Friday: "We'll beat it & it'll be soon..We want to get our schools open..our businesses open. Much of the country is open..we're doing really well.."— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) August 2, 2020
Trump doesn’t get specific, but I think this must be what he is referring to in his tweet above suggesting she took the bait and ‘hit’ the administration.
A couple of hours before his tweet on Pelosi and Birx, Trump defended his administration, saying that despite New York and ‘a few other locations’, the US is doing “MUCH better than most other countries in dealing with the China Virus”:
With the exception of New York & a few other locations, we’ve done MUCH better than most other Countries in dealing with the China Virus. Many of these countries are now having a major second wave. The Fake News is working overtime to make the USA (& me) look as bad as possible!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2020
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