Whoopi Goldberg scolded new White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany for her criticism of Dr. Rick Bright.
Goldberg addressed the issue on Friday’s “The View,” one day after Bright testified before Congress about his whistleblower complaint alleging that he had been shuffled to a “less-impactful” position within the National Institutes of Health after objecting to the Trump administration’s desire to tout hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment.
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Sunny Hostin began by attacking the Trump administration and claiming that 70 days had been lost in the response to the coronavirus pandemic. Bright appeared to support that claim when he testified Thursday before Congress, saying that he had raised concerns about the response but was ignored. (RELATED: Sunny Hostin Blames Texas Salon Owner For Uptick In Coronavirus Cases To Her Face)
“Those days equated to lives lost. That’s what we heard from Dr. Bright. We heard the cold hard facts. We heard a vaccination is not going to come in 12 to 18 months,” Hostin said. “This administration doesn’t want Americans to know that what could happen in the fall is I think what Dr. Bright called a ‘very, very dark winter,’ one of the darkest times in our country’s history. We need to listen to Dr. Bright, even though the administration doesn’t want us to.”
Goldberg responded by mentioning Bright’s assessment of what could happen if a resurgence of coronavirus combined with a normal flu season, noting that even some Republicans had said that Bright’s warnings should be taken into consideration.
“I also want to say that this new press secretary says it sounds like Mr. Bright hasn’t been paying attention at all. Girl, you just got here. Shhhh,” Goldberg added. “Hold off … none of these people who are talking such nonsense are doctors or have any in-depth knowledge of how this works. So keep in mind, they try to say that Dr. Fauci is fallible — he may be fallible, he’s human, but he’s the only one that we’ve had really who you know is a straight shooter and not a political animal.” (RELATED: White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany Slams Rick Bright: ‘He Hasn’t Been Paying Attention’)
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar rebutted Bright’s testimony Thursday, noting that much of the advice he claimed was ignored had actually been followed and that Bright himself had signed off on a request for the FDA to fast track approval for hydroxychloroquine.