Dr. Birx Recalls Pressure From Trump Admin After Sounding the Alarm on Pandemic: ‘I Knew I Was Being Watched’

Dr. Deborah Birx described the political pressure she was under when she used to be former President Donald Trump’s White House Coronavirus response coordinator.

CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta spoke to Birx for his documentary — Covid War: The Pandemic Doctors Speak Out — which will air on Sunday night. The network previewed Birx expressing her view that most of America’s Covid deaths “could have been mitigated,” but Gupta joined Dana Bash on State of the Union, to show a new clip of Birx speaking to the pressure she faced when she tried to be clear about the pandemic’s dangerousness.

“I knew I was being watched,” she said. “Everybody inside was waiting for me to make a misstep so that they could, I guess, remove me from the task force.”

Birx pointed to an interview she did with CNN last year, saying she got a “whole lot of pushback” for warning about the coronavirus’ spread to rural areas.

“That was a very difficult time because everybody in the White House was upset with that interview and the clarity that I brought about the epidemic,” Birx said. She added that Trump called her about it afterwards, and when asked to elaborate on that, she said. “I think you’ve heard other conversations that people have posted with the president. I would say it was even more direct than what people have heard. It was very uncomfortable, very direct and very difficult to hear.”

“Were you threatened?” Gupta asked.

“I would say it was a very uncomfortable situation,” she answered.

Watch above, via CNN.