CBS host Margaret Brennan said that the White House would not approve a Face the Nation interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci to discuss the spike in coronavirus cases throughout the country.
Brennan opened her show on Sunday morning by noting that the network requested to have Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on the show to discuss the new rise in coronavirus cases, but was denied by the White House.
“It may be the most sobering morning after the Fourth of July in America’s history as we wake up to the fourth day in a row of more than 50,000 new reported cases of COVID-19. They are on the rise now in 40 of 50 states,” Brennan said.
“We are committed to bringing you the facts about the virus and the most knowledgeable guests that we can. We think it’s important for our viewers to hear from Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Centers for Disease Control, but we have not been able to get our requests for Dr. Fauci approved by the Trump administration in the last three months. And the CDC, not at all. We will continue our efforts,” she said.
Fauci and CDC Director Robert Redfield were a regular fixture of the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force press conferences at the beginning of the pandemic. Fauci, Redfield, and Dr. Deborah Birx conducted many interviews at the beginning of the pandemic, but their presence has tapered off since.
The United States has been struggling with a new wave of the coronavirus in several Southern states, including California, Texas, Florida, and Arizona. On Sunday, the mayor of Austin, Texas, Steve Adler, said his city is less than two weeks away from running out of hospital space if the new cases are not contained.
Trump and Fauci have had a rocky relationship since the pandemic began. Trump in April retweeted a post with the caption “fire Fauci.” The White House later said claims that Trump was going to fire the doctor were “ridiculous.”
