Friday, November 5, 2021

Global – 247,968,227/5,020,204; USA – 46,268,465/749,876 Phone call with Mikael Dolsten of Pfizer and his team. They explained to a group of us (USG) the details of the Pfizer drug trial results (See above) I continue to get hassled by people FOIA-ing my emails . For example today we got a request from a Robin Bravender of Insider (a trash publication) for my e-mails from Nov. 3, 2021 Another extraordinary Day !!! I attended the Funeral services of General Colin L Powell at the Washington National Cathedral at the invitation of the Powell family. Beautiful sunny crispy cool Fall day! It was truly a moving and extraordinary event characterized by moving speeches from Madeleine Albright, Richard Armitage, and General Powell's son Michael K. Powell. A notable part of the event was the extraordinary rendition of the song “How great thou are” by Wintley Phipps. The entire “A” list of present and former administrations including the President (Biden) and first lady, former Presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. I went over and chatted with all of them right before the ceremony. I thanked President Obama for our discussion the other night (see above), and I had a very interesting and amusing situation with Hillary Clinton. As soon as she saw me she opened up her arms and we gave each other a big warm hug. She whispered in my ear “now you know what it feels like “clearly referring to the issue with the emails and all the other flak that I am taking. I told her some details of what I was going through and she commiserated with me thoroughly. She also said that she wanted to give me a call very soon so we could get together. President Biden recognized me from across the room and gave me a nod and a finger point. On the wayout General Mark Milley came up to me put his arms around my shoulder and said “the only person who was getting his balls kicked more than me in Washington is you “. I responded by saying “no shit”. he then responded by saying “Fuck ‘em”. I also ran into a number of other people from former administrations who chatted with me including James Baker, and Donna Shalala. I also met Ken Duberstein who is looking very frail and in a wheelchair. I didn't recognize him until the person who is taking care of him re-introduced us he said that he was the one who convinced Ronald Reagan to appoint me as director of NIAID and that I make him proud every single day particularly when he sees me out on TV doing my good work. BTW - It really is nice having a security detail to whisk you in and out of these events . It would have taken me forever to get in and I would have been locked in there forever. However, with Brett taking care of me it was as smooth as could be. PRESS: NPR “All Things Considered” with Mary Louise Kelly;