Fauci, Redfield and Giroir to testify before Coronavirus panel as pandemic worsens

Dr. Fauci and President Trump's relationship faces continued scrutiny.

July 22, 2020, 9:07 PM

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, will testify July 31 on Capitol Hill, as his relationship with President Donald Trump faces continued scrutiny and the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States.

Fauci, who last testified before Congress on June 30, will be joined during a hybrid in-person/remote hearing by two other leading officials from the White House Coronavirus Task Force: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield and Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of Health and Human Services Adm. Brett Giroir.

The hearing comes as the number of new COVID-19 cases continues to increase. On Tuesday, more than 1,000 Americans died from the coronavirus -- the highest daily tally in more than a month.

Dr. Robert Redfield, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, ADM Brett P. Giroir and Dr. Stephen M. Hahn testify during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, June 23, 2020.
Pool/Reuters

Democrats say they intend to examine the "urgent need for a national comprehensive plan" to address the pandemic, according to a news release sent by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, which is chaired by House Majority Whip James Clyburn.

While Trump has held solo news conferences on back-to-back days to discuss the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Fauci said that he has not been invited to join the president, as was customary in the early days of the pandemic. The infectious disease expert last met with the president on June 2, although the two did speak over the phone on July 15, and Trump said they spoke again on Wednesday.

Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 30, 2020.
Pool New/Kevin Dietsch/Reuters, FILE

With public support for his response to the pandemic sinking, Trump has recently worked to discredit Fauci, insisting he's "made mistakes" throughout the crisis. Nevertheless, the president insists he gets along fine with Fauci and that he likes him personally.

President Donald Trump talks to journalists during a news conference about his administration's response to the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, July 22, 2020 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

"They are briefing me. I am meeting them. I just spoke to Dr. Fauci. Dr. (Deborah) Birx is right outside. And they’re giving me all of -- everything they know as of -- as of this point in time, and I'm giving the information to you. And I think it's probably a very concise way of doing it. It seems to be working out very well," Trump said Wednesday evening. "They’re very much involved. They're very much -- with the relationships, they’re all very good. All very good. The relationships that we have with the doctors, with everybody working on the virus has been, I think, extraordinary."

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