White House coronavirus testing czar Admiral Brett Giroir is revealing why he is not worried about President Donald Trump not attending COVID-19 task force meetings.
ABC’s Martha Raddatz mentioned a Washington Post report proving the president has not attended a coronavirus task force meeting in at least five months.
“That’s true, but the vice president does chair the coronavirus task force. The vice president, we often have several cabinet members there and the vice president briefs the president every day or nearly every day on coronavirus,” Giroir said.
He added, “I’m not concerned that the president doesn’t attend. The vice president is there, Secretary Azar, the leadership that’s there, the scientific community, Dr. Birx, Dr. Fauci, myself, Dr. Hahn, Dr. Redfield. We’re all working and the docs work literally every single day together.”
Watch his remarks below:
JUST IN: Adm. Brett Giroir confirms Washington Post report that Pres. Trump has not attended a coronavirus task force meeting in at least five months, saying "that's true."
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 15, 2020
"I'm not concerned that the president doesn't attend—the vice president is there" https://t.co/n1MpoXGwpW pic.twitter.com/FkWhBBTZJY
Giroir’s comments come less than a week after President-elect Joe Biden convened a coronavirus task force, as IJR previously reported.
The 13-member task force he named is headed by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler and healthcare equity expert from Yale University Marcella Nunez-Smith.
Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on Sunday, “Of course, it would be better if we could start working with” the Biden-Harris team to get the pandemic under control, as IJR previously reported.
Biden has vowed to work with governors and mayors once he is sworn in to implement mask mandates.
“The goal is to get back to normal as fast as possible. And masks are critical in doing that. It won’t be forever, but that’s how we’ll get our nation back,” he said.
The United States reported at least 1,210 new coronavirus related deaths and 159,121 new cases on Saturday.
Since the onset of the pandemic, more than 11,050,100 Americans have been infected and at least 245,700 have died.
