CDC chief contradicts Trump's claim that he was 'misquoted' by media on coronavirus, leaves POTUS red-faced
President Donald Trump on Wednesday, April 22, lashed out at the media over an interview of Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) saying he was wrongly quoted by the Washington Post. Redfield warned against the dangers of a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic that has hit more than 840,000 people in the US and claimed over 46,000 lives, as per the John Hopkins tracker.
The president brought Redfield to the White House to speak to the media during his coronavirus briefings expecting the latter to object to the Washington Post interview but he said there that the daily quoted him correctly. For Trump and his administration battling the crisis, it was a moment of great chaos and confusion.
While speaking first, Trump said: “He (Redfield) was totally misquoted in the media. On a statement on the fall season and the virus, (he was) totally misquoted. I spoke to him, he said it was ridiculous. He was talking about the flu and corona coming together at the same time. And corona could be little flare-ups we will take care of. (It) will not get out and not get out fast. But that’s what he was referring to.” He then asked Redfield, who was seated on the sidelines, to explain it further.
In the interview that came out in WaPo on Wednesday, Redfield cautioned a second wave of the outbreak could be more devastating since it could coincide with the start of the flu season. The interview ran under the headline: ‘CDC director warns second wave of coronavirus is likely to be even more devastating’.
Trump was not impressed with the coverage, as usual. He called the articles that came out over Redfield’s interview as “inaccurate” and even snapped at reporters who raised questions over the warning. Caught between an unimpressed president and the media, Redfield was clearly on the defensive and he said while the headline of the story was “inappropriate”, he was quoted correctly by the newspaper.
“I think it's really important to emphasize what I didn't say. I didn't say this was going to be worse, I said it was going to be more difficult and potentially complicated because we'll have flu and coronavirus circulating at the same time,” Redfield, the 68-year-old former Army physician said.
At this, the president stepped in to reiterate that words were put in Redfield’s mouth. “He was totally misquoted. He said they could come together, they didn’t talk about that and his whole purpose in making the statement was to get a flu shot so that next fall, we don't have such a big season of flu and we possibly won’t,” he said.
When one reporter present on the occasion started asking questions over his quote, Redfield said he was accurately quoted and Trump, who was standing by the side, raised his finger to divert the attention to the headline of the story.
When ABC’s Jonathan Karl asked the CDC chief if he was rightly quoted, the latter said he indeed was. Karl read out the headline, saying: “The headline says CDC director warned second wave of coronavirus is likely to be even more devastating.” Trump then said from one side of the podium: “That's not what he said.”
When another reporter asked Redfield why he retweeted the WaPo article, Trump hit back, saying: “You weren’t called on.”
Trump then announced that the coronavirus may not come back this winter at all. “It might not come back at all. He's talking about a worst-case scenario where you have a big flu and you have some Corona,” the Republican said.
However, the president found a difference of opinion coming out from Anthony Fauci, one of his coronavirus task force members, who said he was convinced that the coronavirus could return this fall.
“What Dr. Redfield was saying, first of all, is that we will have coronavirus in the fall. I am convinced of that,” he said.