CNN anchor grills Birx in interview on Trump White House

CNN anchor Brianna Keilar pressed Deborah Birx, a leading member of the White House task force on the coronavirus under former President Trump, about a number of claims she makes in a new book about her experience.

Birx came under criticism during her time at the White House by those who said she should have been more outspoken in criticizing the former president’s false statements about the coronavirus.

During her book tour, Birx has defended her tenure, often arguing that she needed to couch her rhetoric to stay in the administration, where she argues her voice was important in setting policy on the pandemic.

During the CNN interview, Keilar asked Birx about Trump’s statements suggesting public health officials were doing too much testing during the early months of the pandemic. Trump argued at the time that cases were rising because more people were being tested.

Birx told the anchor “that was what was difficult in this White House. Because things are being said and we were doing the opposite. And I’m just very thankful to the task force.”

Keilar then offered some criticism of Birx, noting that Trump was the one making the statements.

“So you talk about what you’re doing privately. But that comes up completely in the face against what he is saying very publicly, and what you are not necessarily saying publicly to counter what he was doing at the time,” Keilar said.

“Well, you know that I had no access to national media after the event of April 23rd,” Birx responded. “So I had to find another way to make sure my voice was heard.”

Birx was referencing a press briefing conducted by Trump on April 23, 2020. On that day, Trump appeared to suggest people could inject bleach inside themselves to better protect against the coronavirus.

CNN’s Keilar said Birx did have access to national media.

“Yes, you did. You had access to late, to national media,” Keilar said. “If you chose to speak to them. But you chose not to.”

“Well, Brianna, I knew from the experience I had seen in that White House that if I had done that independently, outside of the White House, I would no longer be in that White House,” Birx shot back.

As she promotes her book this week, Birx has been doing a number of media appearances and interviews.

She told ABC News earlier this week she, Anthony Fauci and other top health staffers in the federal government had a “resignation pact” during their time serving under Trump.

“I actually wasn’t worried about myself being fired because I was dual-hatted, and I would go back to the State Department and my PEPFAR job full-time,” she said. “All of us knew what it was like to be there and in the trenches. … Although, they got to go home after the task force and back to their agencies. I was still in the White House.”