Thursday, April 23, 2020

Global – 2,500,000/170,000; USA – 827,000/47,000; Interesting day. Was asked to come to Pentagon (with Deb Birx) by Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley. He had Deb and I brief him and his immediate staff on how the Armed Forces could best prepare for the future wave (in the Fall and beyond) of COVID-19. All about “force protection”. We did this in the famous “Tank”. Howver, before we did that he wanted to take a bunch of photos with him, his wife, and Vice Chair Gen. John Hyten and Gen.Paul Friedrichs. Also, he had me sign his surgical masks and a basketball that was originally signed by Coach K of Duke. I had a wondeful time!! TF was uneventful. I was not at presser….. HOWEVER, the presser was a disaster for the POTUS. All he did was fight with the press Someone from DHS presented data showing that sunlight, heat and humidity “kills’ the virus. Actually, they presented this at the TF meeting and the POTUS did not even know about it. When the DHS guy presented it, the press tore it apart as a gimmick from the POTUS. Also, the POTUS incredibily made the comment that one should consider injecting or swallowing these disinfectants (including chlorax-like substances) as a “cure”. Deb almost fainted on stage, Thank God I was not there, After the presser, CNN with Erin Burnett presented a segment of the clash between the scientists (almost exclusively me) and the POTUS. They showed a point-by-point contrast of me versus the POTUS. Let us see what the reaction is tomorrow at the TF meeting. After the presser (about 1 hour) Deb Birx texted and then called me saying it was good that I was not there since after the presser, the POTUS called her into the Oval and started yelling at her saying “You and Fauci have destroyed the country and the economy. I should never have listened to you. You have completely destroyed us.” He kept saying this over and over again and was yelling at her. I encouraged her that we are OK and at the end of the day she and I will be loved by the people we care about. She was relieved and after wrote me a text sincerely thanking me. PRESS: None