A new book is making a claim about Dr. Deborah Birx, who served as the White House coronavirus response coordinator under the Trump administration, regarding the 2020 presidential election.
In the new book, “Preventable,” Andy Slavitt, a senior coronavirus adviser to President Joe Biden, suggests Birx wanted former President Donald Trump to lose the election, according to CNN, which obtained a copy of the book.
After noting he met with Birx in Minnesota in August 2020, Slavitt writes, “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.”
He adds, “At one point, after a brief pause, she looked me in the eye and said, ‘I hope the election turns out a certain way.’ I had the most important information I needed.”
Additionally, Birx told Slavitt that she had been “completely silenced.” Birx noted that she was not allowed to make appearances on national media.
Birx was once a close adviser. However, she was “cast out of [Trump’s] inner circle,” as CNN writes, and “sidelined from her once prominent role.” She traveled the U.S. and discussed data with government officials.
Slavitt’s book comes out on Tuesday. He stepped down from his role on Biden’s coronavirus response team last week. His role was meant to be short-term.
Birx previously opened up about the Trump administration and the pressures she faced. She also spoke about “a very uncomfortable conversation” she had with Trump after she did a CNN interview.
It was reported in March 2021 that Birx would be taking a private sector job, becoming chief scientific and medical adviser at Dallas-based ActivePure — an air purifying company that aims to remove coronavirus particles.