TOPLINE
Former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday said, if elected, he would seek to retain Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and one of the most public faces of the White House’s coronavirus response.
WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 30: Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and ... [+]
KEY FACTS
“If I’m elected, I’ll immediately reach out to Dr. Fauci and ask him to continue his incredible service to our country,” Biden said during a speech on Tuesday.
Attempting to draw a stark contrast with President Trump, Biden added, “I’ll have the nation’s best medical experts and scientists ready to advise our response on day one — and I'll actually listen to them.”
Fauci has had a rocky relationship with Trump, who retweeted a call to fire Fauci in April and reportedly didn’t speak with him for the whole second half of May, a period in which the White House’s coronavirus task force ceased public briefings.
But despite drawing the ire of Trump and his base at times, polls continue to show Fauci as by far the most trusted public figure when it comes to dispensing information; a Fox News poll last week put approval of Fauci’s handling of the pandemic at 72%, compared to 68% for state governments, 50% for the federal government and just 44% for Trump.
Biden also excoriated Trump’s coronavirus response, saying his “promises and predictions and wishful thinking, pulled out of thin air, are doing this country no good,” and accusing him of making people lose confidence in the government.
Key Background
Fauci has served as NIAID director since 1984, and first achieved acclaim as the nation’s top infectious disease expert long before the coronavirus pandemic. During the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, Fauci listened to and worked with activists to change how the government handled clinical drug trials, greatly increasing the number of patients who had access to experimental treatments.
Key Quote
Fauci has vowed to buck the White House and the president when it comes to speaking his mind about the coronavirus outbreak. “There is no chance in the world that I’m going to be forced into agreeing to something that I don’t think is safe and scientifically sound. I’ll guarantee you that,” he told McClatchy last week.
News Peg
Fauci has been making dire forecasts in recent days. During a congressional hearing on Tuesday, Fauci predicted that the U.S. could see 100,000 new coronavirus cases a day if containment efforts aren’t improved. He has also raised alarm bells about a new virus cropping up in China, which he says has traits resembling the 2009 swine flu and the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.
