The coronavirus briefings are back. Sort of.
When President Trump appears in the White House briefing room at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, he is not expected to be accompanied by members of his coronavirus task force, according to a person familiar with the planning. Although, given the unpredictability of the Trump White House, that could change.
Either way, with cases of COVID-19 on the rise across the country, the president is returning to be the face of the national response at a time when he is searching for a way to campaign from the White House, with rallies and personal appearances limited by the impact of the disease.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the president wanted to deliver good news on therapeutics and vaccines.
“We have a lot of plans over the next three months. You’ll be hearing about other topics as well, and the president may, at times, bring someone with him, maybe not. That’ll be his decision, but he will be very good with briefings with a lot of information,” she told Fox News.
It means that rather than a crowded podium and the ever-present risk of a scientist disagreeing with the president, Trump will have the stage largely to himself.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s most senior infectious diseases specialist, told NPR on Tuesday that he was not currently due to attend the first briefing. CNN reported that Dr. Deborah Birx, task force coordinator, had also not been asked to appear.
And Vice President Mike Pence, who heads the White House response, will not be available, as he is traveling to South Carolina, along with two other members of the task force.
Thank you for the good reviews and comments on my interview with Chris Wallace of @FoxNews. We may have set a record for doing such an interview in the heat. It was 100 degrees, making things very interesting!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 21, 2020
Jeanne Zaino, professor of politics at Iona College, said Trump, like all incumbents, needed a “Rose Garden strategy” if he is to win reelection.
“I think this is part of it. I think the tweet with the mask is part of it,” she said. “He’s trying to say he is on top of this pandemic because it is dragging his numbers down horribly, and with constituents that matter, like the elderly.”
The coronavirus briefings ran daily from March through April but were abandoned after the president clashed with reporters and criticism erupted when he suggested bleach might prove helpful in treating the virus.
Insiders were concerned that Trump’s freewheeling performances at times undermined public health messages and risked tying his reelection to a deadly pandemic.
In recent weeks, Pence has led occasional briefings at sites outside the White House. But on Monday, Trump announced he would begin leading them himself.
“I was doing them, and we had a lot of people watching — record numbers watching,” Trump said, adding that the “flare-up” in Florida suggested it was time to resume them.
Last week, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway spelled out how the appearances could help the president’s standing.
“His approval rating on the pandemic was higher when he was at the podium,” she said on Friday as she suggested the briefings may return. “It was at 51% in March. And I think people want to hear from the president of the United States.”
