Dr. Anthony Fauci is defending former White House aide Olivia Troye as an important part of the Coronavirus Task Force after the Trump administration slammed her for her accusations that President Donald Trump bungled the coronavirus response.
"I interacted with Olivia," the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told MSNBC's Chris Hayes Thursday night. "I liked her. She was a good person. She was important to the team as a staff person to the Coronavirus Task Force."
Troye has resigned after serving as Vice President Mike Pence's homeland security adviser because of her concerns over how Trump has handled the virus.
She said in a video released Thursday by the group Republican Voters Against Trump that she found working for Trump "terrifying."
She also accused him of being more concerned about his reelection than protecting the country from the virus and said she plans to vote for Joe Biden.
Pence's national security adviser Keith Kellogg said Troye reported to him and never said she was concerned about the administration's response, and that she was "disgruntled that her detail was cut short because she was no longer capable of keeping up with her day-to-day duties."
"I don’t know what to make about what just has come out recently," Fauci told Hayes. "It would be very difficult for me to comment on that. The only thing I can say is that there are a lot of people who are looking carefully and are driven by the truth and I think the American people should feel confidence in that."
Fauci also said that there will be a degree of transparency while the coronavirus vaccine is being developed and that the Food and Drug Administration has made it "very clearly explicitly that they will not be influenced by political considerations. "
He added that the NIH and the scientific community is "very adamant about that."
"If, in fact, it looks like that vaccine is safe and effective, I can tell the American public that I will take the vaccine when it’s available to me and I will recommend to my family that they take it," he added.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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