On CNN Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was asked about remarks she made over the weekend in which she said she had no confidence in Dr. Deborah Birx, Coronavirus Response Coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force since February 2020.
Said Pelosi to ABC News’ Martha Raddatz: “I think the president has been spreading disinformation about the virus and she is his appointee so, I don’t have confidence there, no.”
Pelosi clarified the remarks to CNN’s Jim Sciutto, explaining a talk she had with White House officials: “What happened is we had a conversation about how we stop the virus, and when we did, they were making contentions about how tracing isn’t a valuable thing, we shouldn’t do it, and I said ‘Well that’s not what most scientists say.’ And they said ‘well we’ll bring a scientist to say that,’ and I said ‘Make sure it’s not Dr. Birx because I don’t have confidence in anyone who stands there while the president says swallow Lysol and it’s going to cure your virus.'”
“It’ll kill you and you won’t have the virus anymore,” Pelosi continued. “I don’t have confidence in somebody when the president says ‘it’s a hoax, magic, it’s going to go away by magic, a miracle,’ and all those things. No. I don’t have confidence.”
“I think that she has enabled [Trump’s lies],” Pelosi added. “But it’s not about her. It’s about the American people and how this administration has not had a strategic plan. …. If the president is saying these things, then who’s advising him that this is okay and enabling that to happen?”
