Fauci describes ‘frightening’ pressure on scientists in Trump era

Anthony FauciAnthony FauciNight Health Care – Fauci: Lack of Facts ‘Likely’ Killed Coronavirus Fight | CDC Changes COVID-19 Vaccine Guidelines to Allow Rare Mix of Pfizer and Moderna | Senate chaos threatens to slow agenda for Biden Fauci exasperated by threats to family Poll: plurality of voters say coronavirus vaccine rollout slower than expected MORE, the federal government’s leading infectious disease expert, said it was “frightening” to see the pressure put on scientists during the Trump administration by officials seeking to project optimistic messages about the coronavirus.

Fauci told about “The Rachel MaddowRachel Anne Maddow A Vaccine, A Burrito & More: 7 Lighter, Memorable Moments Of 2020 Klobuchar: Trump ‘Tries To Burn This Country By Going Out’ DC Attorney General: Ivanka Trump ‘Very Misleading’ On Filing of a PLUS trial Show “on Friday night that officials under Trump pressed government scientists in what he said was an unusual dynamic compared to his work under previous administrations, describing” a situation where science has been distorted and / or rejected “.

“I didn’t want to disagree with the president because I have a lot of respect for the office of the presidency, but there were conflicts at different levels with different people and different organizations and a lot of pressure was exerted to do so. . things that are just not compatible with science, ”he said.

“It’s a real aberrance,” he added later. “This is my seventh administration, Rachel, and I have advised administrations and presidents on both sides of the aisle, Republicans and Democrats, people with different ideologies, and even with differences in ideology, he doesn There has never been this real affront to science. So it’s really an aberrance that I haven’t seen in almost 40 years that I’ve been doing this. So it’s just one of those things that chills your spine when you see it happening. “

These remarks are just Fauci’s latest statements, indicating his relief at working under President Biden’s leadership.

The public health expert became one of the first faces of the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic, but he was ultimately pushed out of the spotlight after taking positions that went against the House’s message Blanche according to which the virus would “disappear”.

“I can tell you that I take no pleasure in being in a situation of contradiction with the president, so it was really something that you didn’t think you could say anything about and there would be no repercussion about it” , Fauci said at a press briefing this week.

“The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know, what the evidence is and the science, and know that’s it – let the science speak – it’s kind of a liberating feeling. .

Fauci said that despite the conflicts that agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) face over Trump’s White House, many officials have resisted pressure on them. .

“People have been influenced, unfortunately. But I have to tell you, while some might have been, a lot of people weren’t, ”he said. “There were a lot of people in the CDC and the FDA who were really suffering from this.”