Press Sec. McEnany: Dr. Fauci Still 'One Viewpoint' in Task Force

Dr. Anthony Fauci's opinion represents "one viewpoint" in the White House's response to the coronavirus pandemic, but there are many other voices that President Donald Trump is considering in his response, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Monday. 

"Dr. Fauci represents one viewpoint within the administration, and he looks at things from a public health standpoint," McEnany said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "Dr. Fauci's one member of a team but rest assured his viewpoint is represented and the information gets to the president through the task force."

Meanwhile, there are several others involved with the task force who take a "whole of government look at what's best for this country," said McEnany, "like Dr. [Elinor] McCance-Katz, who looks at the consequences of staying closed, psychologically what that does to society, with drug overdoses and suicides that we’ve seen increase."

She added that the point of the task force is to be a "whole of government look at what's best for this country," so it includes Fauci's opinion and more, "and ultimately those conclusions are taken to the president." 

McEnany also pushed back at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's criticisms about the administration's plans for getting children back in school this fall, after the California Democrat accused Trump and his administration of "messing with the health of our children" and insisted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines be followed. 

"She appears to not be looking at the data or the science and the only one messing with our children is Nancy Pelosi herself," said McEnany. "There are grave consequences for schools staying shut down ... we depend on our teachers, we depend on our schools and they need to reopen and the president has been unmistakable on that."

But the administration wants to leave it to localities about what guidelines will work, said McEnany, adding that even the CDC says they acknowledge the rules are "perfect world" guidelines that are not always feasible. 

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