CNN’s Chris Cuomo Worries Over Dr. Fauci’s Future in White House: ‘Telling the Truth About Trump’ More Dangerous Than Coronavirus
In his “Closing Argument,” CNN’s Chris Cuomo argued that journalists should avoid putting NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci in the uncomfortable position of having to publicly correct all the many exaggerations and outright lies about the coronavirus by President Donald Trump.
Cu0mo’s final segment on Monday night keyed off Fauci’s notable absence from the daily coronavirus task force press briefing earlier in the day, marking the second day in a row that he has not appeared alongside the president. The infectious disease expert has been repeatedly confronted with Trump’s misstatements and acknowledged that he is, in effect, powerless to preemptively stop the president from pushing out reckless or incorrect information about the pandemic. Trump has reportedly grown frustrated with the “blunt approach” Fauci takes during public appearances in refusing to sugarcoat the threat the nation faces from the viral outbreak.
“Not seeing Dr. Anthony Fauci on stage today worried me, and it should worry you,” Cuomo warned. “He’s become like America’s grandpa. He gives conscience and comfort and fact to this country and uniquely so.”
Cuomo then played a clip from the briefing where Trump tap-danced around a question about Fauci’s opinion on restarting the economy in the next few weeks— where the president cryptically said “He doesn’t not agree” with him.
“He doesn’t not agree, I don’t know what that means,” Cuomo said. “But it doesn’t matter and here is why. Is Dr. Fauci important to our economic decisions? No… Do you know what is more dangerous than COVID? Telling the truth about Trump as a member of the executive branch. No one survives that. Why put Fauci in a position of having to admit that Trump is wrong or lying when we know that to be the case. You literally sometimes leave Fauci with no good answer other than ‘What do you want me to do?’ The answer is help us get through this. Fauci must be kept bigger than the politics of Trump.”
Watch the video above, via CNN.
