Pence Dismisses Reporting CDC Head Has Been Sidelined: ‘We’ve Put Our Scientists in the Forefront’
Vice President Mike Pence said that the White House coronavirus task force is continuing to rely on the scientists, following reporting on how one top official has been sidelined.
CDC director Robert Redfield has reportedly been sidelined in the covid response, and just last week the president publicly contradicted Redfield on key statements he made about the pandemic response, particularly on the subject of a vaccine timeline.
Amid reports that @CDCgov Dir. Robert Redfield has been sidelined over public disagreements with Pres. Trump, @Mike_Pence tells @NorahODonnell Redfield is still “an active member” of the task force.
Pence: “We’ve put our scientists in the forefront and we’ve put science first.” pic.twitter.com/uTvuqrFQqW
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) September 21, 2020
CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell asked Pence in an interview Monday why Redfield has been sidelined.
Pence said that the CDC chief continued to be an active member of the task force, saying, “We’ve put our scientists in the forefront and we put science first, and we’ve let those decisions be made by the CDC.”
“We’ll defer those judgments to our scientists, but I can assure you that, as Dr. Redfield knows, as Dr. Fauci and others know, our task force at the president’s direction continues to lean on the science.”
