"I tip my hat to him for admitting the strategy," Fauci told the Post of Meadows' admission to Tapper. Fauci and Birx, the coronavirus response coordinator for the White House task force, were fixtures at the White House in the early days of the pandemic, often appearing alongside Trump at White House briefings to detail the administration's efforts to fight the virus. In a statement, White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere sharply criticized Fauci, claiming he was inappropriately playing politics a few days before Election Day. Deere appeared to be referring to the contrast that Fauci drew in the interview between the Trump and Biden campaign's differing approaches to the pandemic. "All he does is talk about Covid, Covid," Trump said of Biden.

Source: CNN November 01, 2020 04:29 UTC