At 7:47 a.m. on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, Dr. Jay Butler pounded out a grim email to colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Butler, then the head of the agency’s coronavirus response, and his team had been trying to craft guidance to help Americans return safely to worship amid worries that two of its greatest comforts — the chanting of prayers and singing of hymns — could launch a deadly virus into the air with each breath.
The week before, the CDC had published its investigation of an outbreak at an Arkansas church that had resulted in four deaths. The agency’s scientific journal recently had detailed a superspreader event in which 52 of the 61 singers at a 2½-hour choir practice developed COVID-19. Two died.
Butler, an infectious disease specialist with more than three decades of experience, seemed the ideal person to lead the effort. Trained as one of the CDC’s elite disease detectives, he’d helped the FBI investigate the anthrax attacks, and he’d led the distribution of vaccines during the H1N1 flu pandemic when demand far outstripped supply.
But days earlier, Butler and his team had suddenly found themselves on President Donald Trump’s front burner when the president began publicly agitating for churches to reopen. That Thursday, Trump had announced that the CDC would release safety guidelines for them “very soon.” He accused Democratic governors of disrespecting churches, and deemed houses of worship “essential services.”
Butler’s team rushed to finalize the guidance for churches, synagogues and mosques that Trump’s aides had shelved in April after battling the CDC over the language. In reviewing a raft of last-minute edits from the White House, Butler’s team rejected those that conflicted with CDC research, including a worrisome suggestion to delete a line that urged congregations to “consider suspending or at least decreasing” the use of choirs.
On Friday, Trump’s aides called the CDC repeatedly about the guidance, according to emails. “Why is it not up?” they demanded until it was posted on the CDC website that afternoon.
The next day, a furious call came from the office of the vice president: The White House suggestions were not optional. The CDC’s failure to use them was insubordinate, according to emails at the time.
Fifteen minutes later, one of Butler’s deputies had the agency’s text replaced with the White House version, the emails show. The danger of singing wasn’t mentioned.
Early that Sunday morning, as Americans across the country prepared excitedly to return to houses of worship, Butler, a churchgoer himself, poured his anguish and anger into an email to a few colleagues.
“I am very troubled on this Sunday morning that there will be people who will get sick and perhaps die because of what we were forced to do,” he wrote.
A call about Dr. Fauci from D. Trump to campaign staff, was (somehow) recorded and transmitted to NBC.
SO very disturbing. Refers to him as "a disaster', who "called every one of them wrong". And much more.
quote:
Oct. 19, 2020, 7:06 AM EDT / Updated Oct. 19, 2020, 4:26 PM EDT By Rebecca Shabad and Monica Alba WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci during a phone call with campaign staff, calling the infectious disease specialist a "disaster" and saying every time he goes on television there is a “bomb,” but there would be “a bigger bomb if you fire him,” according to a recording of the call obtained by NBC News.
"People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots — these people, these people that have gotten it wrong," Trump said. "Fauci’s a nice guy. He’s been here for 500 years. He called every one of them wrong. And he’s like this wonderful guy, a wonderful sage telling us how" to respond to the pandemic.
"If I listened to him, we’d have 500,000 deaths," Trump continued, adding seconds later, "If we listened to him, we’d have 700-800,000 deaths right now."
Trump pointed to Fauci's early comments on mask wearing and shutting down travel from China as examples of allegedly bad advice. "And yet, we keep him," Trump told those on the call. "Every time he goes on television, there’s always a bomb, but there’s a bigger bomb if you fire him."
The president, who was speaking to campaign employees to offer optimism in the final days of the election, also told staff he is “more excited” today than he was a few weeks ago. The president's aides have voiced concern about the current polling landscape in the race against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden with only two weeks until Election Day.
Trump added that there's "a lot of cheating going on," claiming without evidence that Democrats will do so in order to defeat him.
"You know they'll be cheating like crazy because they always cheat," he said. "The only way we can lose this election is if they cheat. OK, that's the only way."
“Keep your eyes open and report them to law enforcement at the strongest level. … We have law enforcement watching. We have U.S. attorneys, sheriffs, everybody is watching. Postal inspectors hopefully are watching,” he continued, insisting his campaign has never looked better. “We’re going to win. This is the highest point we’ve ever been,” he said, adding, “My whole life has been about winning.”
Of the Biden people, he said: “They’re trying to kill our enthusiasm with bad press because they’re sick people. They’re mentally ill.” The president urged his staff to work hard and not read the papers because they’re “suppression stories, suppression polls.”
After the campaign call, Trump continued to trash Fauci in a pair of tweets.
Biden responded to Trump's attacks on Fauci in a statement later Monday.
"Coronavirus infections are spiking across the country, but President Trump decided to attack Dr. Fauci again today as a 'disaster' and call public health experts 'idiots' instead of laying out a plan to beat this virus or heeding their advice about how we can save lives and get our economy moving again," he said. "President Trump even criticized me yesterday for listening to the scientists — that’s not an attack, that’s a badge of honor."
