Rep. Adam Schiff said there’s a reason President Trump does not want Dr. Anthony Fauci to testify before the House of Representatives.
“Trump is afraid Fauci will be more candid under tough questioning and without Trump looming behind him,” the California Democrat tweeted Tuesday. “But that’s the entire point.”
Testimony from Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease doctor and a key member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, was requested to appear before the House Appropriations Committee last week as Democrats investigate the federal government’s response to the pandemic.
It’s clear why Trump doesn’t want Dr. Fauci to testify before the House,
Even though Trump has him speak at the White House propaganda sessions:
Trump is afraid Fauci will be more candid under tough questioning and without Trump looming behind him.
But that’s the entire point. https://t.co/q9la5Guo3v
— Adam Schiff (@AdamSchiff) May 5, 2020
The White House blocked Fauci’s testimony before the House, saying it wanted more clarification on “the parameters of what the hearing would entail so we could determine if he was the best guess or if it was someone else’s jurisdiction.”
Trump gave a more direct explanation while speaking with reporters Tuesday, saying, “The House is a setup. The House is a bunch of Trump haters. … Dr. Fauci will be testifying in front of the Senate, and he looks forward to doing that.”
Fauci is set to testify before a Senate committee next week, along with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield.
Congressional Democrats are demanding they be allowed to conduct oversight on the nearly $3 trillion the federal government has spent fighting the virus and bailing out taxpayers who have been affected by the pandemic.
Fauci has shot rumors that a rift exists between Trump and members of the task force, saying, “The president has listened to what I have said and to what the other people on the task force have said. When I have made recommendations, he has taken them. He’s never countered or overridden me. The idea of just pitting one against the other is just not helpful.”
“I wish that would stop, and we’d look ahead at the challenge we have to pull together to get over this thing,” he added.
