The White House held its latest coronavirus briefing on Wednesday.
But that changed Wednesday night.
Early in his comments, Trump made a point to say that he told Kemp “I disagree strongly” with his decisions, even as he reinforced Kemp’s authority to make such calls.
“I want him to do what he thinks is right, but I disagree with him on what he’s doing,” Trump said, adding: “But I think spas and beauty salons and tattoo parlors and barbershops in phase one — we’re going to have phase two very soon — is just too soon. I think it’s too soon.”
Perhaps the more significant comments came later in the briefing, though, when a lead medical expert on the task force, Anthony S. Fauci, more directly addressed Kemp.
“If I were advising the governor, I would tell him that he should be careful,” Fauci said. “And I would advise him not to just turn the switch on and go, because there is a danger of a rebound. And I know there’s that desire to move ahead quickly. That’s a natural human nature, desire. But going ahead and leapfrogging into phases where you should not be — I would advise him as a health official and as a physician not to do that."
While Trump said this is Kemp’s call, now if Kemp presses forward, he will be doing so against the express wishes of a president from his own party and Fauci — who generally isn’t so direct in urging officials to adjust course.
2. Redfield contradicts Trump on ‘misquoted’ claim
Trump used the early part of the briefing to welcome the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, to rebut media reports about his comments about a second wave of coronavirus infections.
Except Redfield didn’t exactly do that.
Trump said Wednesday morning that Redfield had been “misquoted” when he warned that the situation with the coronavirus could be more difficult if it comes back in the winter. Trump tweeted as much and then said it repeatedly before he turned things over to Redfield.
But Redfield didn’t vouch for that claim. He instead emphasized that he had said the combination of the seasonal flu and the coronavirus could create a more difficult situation — just as he had been quoted as saying in the original story published by The Washington Post.
“I’m accurately quoted in The Washington Post,” Redfield said.
Trump then adjusted his criticism to allege not that Redfield had been misquoted but that the headline summarizing his comments was inaccurate.
3. Fauci contradicts Trump, says coronavirus will be back in the fall
When Trump was trying to downplay Redfield’s comments about a coronavirus resurgence late this year, he was pressed on that possibility and reverted to his tendency to downplay.
“It might not come back at all,” Trump said. “It may not come back at all.”
Fauci, though, said it will — at least to some extent.
“There will be coronavirus in the fall,” Fauci said. “If we do — which we won’t, but let’s take an imaginary period, we say, 'Okay, coronavirus, forget about it, we’re not going to do anything about it — it will take off. That’s what viruses do. But that’s not what’s going to happen. We are going to respond to it to not allow it to do that."
4. Few answers on ouster of vaccine expert who objected to pushing hydroxychloroquine
Shortly before the briefing, it was reported that a vaccine expert in the administration claimed he was retaliated against for raising concerns about the administration pushing the use of untested drugs to treat the virus. Rick Bright, the head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, said he was ousted from his post and moved to another one because, “contrary to misguided directives, I limited the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, promoted by the administration as a panacea, but which clearly lack scientific merit.”
The task force did not shed much light on Bright’s situation, with Trump saying he didn’t even know who Bright was.
Fauci also was asked to weigh in but didn’t offer much. Trump objected to a reporter citing Bright’s “gifts” and asking whether they would be put to good use in his new posting at the National Institutes of Health.
“Do you say he has great gifts?” Trump said. “What? Do you know him?"
A government study released this week raised serious doubts about the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine to treat the coronavirus, after Trump and his allies on Fox News had hailed it as a potential “game-changer.” Both Trump and those allies have eased off promoting the drug since early last week.
