A House Democratic chairwoman failed to provide White House chief of staff Mark Meadows a justification for requesting Dr. Anthony Fauci's testimony before issuing a press release saying the administration was blocking the health expert from speaking to Congress.
"The notion he's being blocked is just farcical," White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters during the daily press briefing Wednesday.
House Committee on Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., "did not act in good faith," McEnany said, ripping her disingenuous request to Meadows as lacking justification and "a publicity stunt."
Meadows had three calls with Rep. Lowey over the weekend, when she called to ask if Dr. Fauci could testify before her committee. Lowey promised to get back to Meadows the next morning with details, but instead issued a press release that night, claiming the White House was blocking Fauci's testimony.
"It is important to note Dr. Fauci will be testifying before the Senate, which means he will be fielding questions from both Democrats and Republicans," McEnany reminded the White House press corps. "The House, however, and specifically Chairwoman Nita Lowey's committee, did not act in good faith."
Lowey was "unable to tell the chief of staff what the subject matter was," McEnany said.
"Lowey agreed to follow up in the morning with details," McEnany continued. "Those details were never received. Instead, we got a press release. So, that's what we call a publicity stunt.
"We encourage the House to act in good faith, much like the Senate did. As I noted, Dr. Fauci will be speaking before the Senate in a week and a half, so the notion he's being block is just farsical."
Meadows stressed he "wanted to make best use he can of the task force's time," McEnany reiterated.
"Of course, they're working hard to save American lives," she said of the White House coronavirus task force and the demands on their time during the global pandemic.
President Donald Trump has ripped House Democrats for their waste of taxpayers' money taking up White House bandwith on endless investigations.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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