The Trump administration has blocked Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, from testifying on the coronavirus pandemic.
Why it matters: Fauci has often given Americans a reality check on the administration’s response to the coronavirus and has garnered bipartisan credibility for his straight-forward approach to the crisis.
- The Washington Post first reported that the administration rejected the House committee’s request for Fauci’s testimony, quoting a spokesman for the House Appropriations Committee.
Flashback: Fauci testified in March that America’s system of making coronavirus tests available is not set up in a way it needs to be.
- Fauci and Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, are set to “take a back seat” to the White House messaging on coronavirus, a White House official told Axios’ Jonathan Swan this week.