House Speaker Nancy Pelosi doubled down on her claims that President Donald Trump and coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx are spreading misinformation about the pandemic Sunday.
Pelosi said on ABC’s “This Week,” that because Dr. Birx is a Trump appointee, and because the president himself ”is spreading disinformation about the virus,” she does not have confidence in Birx.
“I think the president is spreading disinformation about the virus and she’s his appointee,” Pelosi said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I don’t have confidence, no.”
POLITICO reported Friday that the speaker expressed the same sentiment in a closed meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
“Deborah Birx is the worst. Wow, what horrible hands you’re in,” she said, accusing the coordinator of spreading disinformation.
But Birx said she has “tremendous respect for the speaker” when asked about Pelosi’s comments Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“I have tremendous respect for her long dedication to the American people,” Birx told host Dana Bash.
Birx also urged Americans to take the appropriate precautions as the virus is becoming “extraordinarily widespread.”
“What we are seeing today is different from March and April … It’s into the rural as equal urban areas, and to everybody who lives in a rural area, you are not immune or protected from this virus and that is why we keep saying no matter where you live in America, you need to wear a mask and socially distance, do the personal hygiene pieces.”
