Former White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx appeared to hint that she wanted then-President Trump to lose the 2020 presidential election, a new book reportedly alleges.
CNN reports that Andy Slavitt, one of President Biden’s top COVID-19 advisers who stepped down this week, wrote in his new book “Preventable” that Birx spoke to him after briefing officials in Minnesota last summer.
“I wanted to get a sense for whether, in the event of a strained transition of government, she would help give Biden and his team the best chance to be effective,” Slavitt wrote of Birx and their meeting, CNN reported.
“She looked me in the eye and said, ‘I hope the election turns out a certain way,'” Slavitt wrote in the book, according to CNN. “I had the most important information I needed,” he added, according to the outlet.
The interaction reportedly took place last August when Slavitt met with Birx, who worked on the coronavirus task force under Trump, after being invited to attend the briefing.
Slavitt noted that Birx was “completely silenced” by the Trump administration, and that she seemed “downright scared.”
Birx did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
The outgoing Biden adviser shared the article detailing his book’s claims on Twitter. The book, which details leadership failures during the COVID-19 pandemic, will be released on Tuesday.
Slavitt, a former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is slated to appear on “Face the Nation” on Sunday.