Former White House Coronavirus Response Task Force Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said on CNN’s “The Lead” that former President Trump’s White House was “schizophrenic” during the early days of the COVID pandemic.
Anchor Jake Tapper said, “One of the most memorable moments in your time in the White House was, of course, when President Trump suggested ingesting chemical disinfectants to treat COVID.”
He continued, “So in the book, you say that President Trump’s comments made you furious. It blew up the credibility of the task force.”
Birx said, “I did immediately obviously go to the presidential advisers and others in the White House to make it clear that those were not therapies, and the very next day, the president said they weren’t therapies. He was joking.”
Tapper said, “You considered quitting at one point. Why did you decide to stay?
Birx said, “There was no one else in the White House.”
She added, “Someone had to be there to constantly get the information out, the correct data, what needed to be done. And that was the thing, that was the kind of schizophrenic nature of the White House. At one point, the president is saying this, and I’m funding, and he’s writing defense production to do this. So as long as we were able to move the ball closer and closer to the goalpost, I felt it was valuable for me to stay.”
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