CSI: American Carnage (Thursday, September 10, 2020)
Excerpts from appearance by Kayleigh McEnany, presidential media representative, Sept. 9, 2020, at the White House
MCENANY: The president has never lied to the American public on COVID….
REPORTER: Kayleigh, you quoted Dr. Fauci. Dr. Fauci has also apparently on the record saying of President Trump that, “His attention span is like a minus number and his sole purpose is to get reelected.” That’s according to a veteran journalist, Bob Woodward. I think the bottom line here, is that the president by his own admission, in private, on the record, acknowledged the depth of this crisis, and yet told the American people something very different. How is that at its core, not an abject betrayal of the public trust?
MCENANY: The president has always been clear eyed with the American people. He was always clear eyed about the lives we could lose. Again, from this podium, he acknowledged that this was serious back in March, that 100,000, 200,000 lives could be lost. And with regard to Dr. Fauci, you’re referring to a quote he allegedly told Bob Woodward, and I can give you quotes that we can all play on loop and video of him saying that his response was impressive and he can’t imagine anyone under any circumstance doing anything better. Dr. Fauci saying this, “I can just tell you the president of the first and only time I went and said, ‘You need to do mitigation strongly.’ The response was, ‘Yes, we will do it.’ The second time I went with Dr. Burks to the president and said, 15 days to slow the spread are not enough. We need to go to 30 days. Obviously, there were a lot of people who had problems with that because of potential secondary effects. Nonetheless, the president went with the health recommendations.”
There’s a long litany of praise from Dr. Fauci and you’re referencing something he allegedly told Bob Woodward.
REPORTER: It’s on tape, it’s on tape, Kayleigh. The president is on tape.