Fauci and Birx publicly disagree over details of ‘heated’ meeting with former VP Pence during early COVID

Doctor Anthony Fauci, top medical advisor to President Joe Biden, and Dr. Deborah Birx, who worked together on the COVID-19 task force under former president Trump, have differing memories of how a heated meeting with then-vice president Pence transpired.

In a rare public disagreement, the two have shared opposing recollections of the meeting, and of how vocal Dr. Birx was behind the scenes with top officials regarding COVID-19.

In her new book, “SILENT INVASION: The Untold Story of the Trump Administration, Covid-19, and Preventing the Next Pandemic Before It’s Too Late,” Birx detailed her memory of a meeting in which Fauci and then-CDC director Robert Redfield failed to come to her aid as she sparred with Pence.

According to Birx, prior to the meeting, Fauci had encouraged her to “take on” the vice president regarding some COVID-19 information and responses the doctors believed the White House was getting wrong. Birx said when she did confront the vice president and he refused her ideas, neither Fauci nor Redfield came to her defense, in spite of Fauci having pushed her to bring up the grievances in the first place. 

Asked about the excerpt from the book by CNN’s Jim Acosta this weekend, Birx said after the meeting she “had a very hard time reconciling [herself] with what [she] felt was a lack of support” from Dr. Fauci. Birx also claimed she was the most vocal when it came to Trump and Pence regarding COVID-19.

“You know, I think if you talk to the people in the White House, the communication team and the people who were in the task force, the people who are in the Oval Office, they’ll tell you that — and this is one of the reasons I stayed — the only person that pushed back on the president when he would say these things was me,” Birx said. “That was my job.”

Fauci, however, has a different memory of how things played out in the White House. In fact, Fauci told Acosta he does “not recall that episode at all,” and added, “Behind the scenes, in front of the camera, I always have been very supportive of Dr. Birx,” Fauci said, adding that he was “not sure what she was referring to there.” 

Regarding the White House’s response to COVID-19 in general under the Trump administration, Fauci simply said, “If you look at the history of what the response was during the administration, I think, you know, at best, you can say it wasn’t optimal,” Fauci added. “History will speak for itself about that.”