Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading medical expert on the White House coronavirus task force, will meet with President-elect Joe Biden’s landing team virtually Thursday.
Fauci told CBS’ Major Garrett earlier Thursday morning that he has already spoken to Biden’s White House chief of staff, Ron Klain, “a couple of times over the past couple of weeks” and indicated his desire to stay in his current role at both the National Institutes of Health and the coronavirus task force. (RELATED: Obama, Bush And Clinton Say They’ll Take Coronavirus Vaccine ‘On Camera’ To Prove Its Safety)
Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci speaks during a White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefing in the James S. Brady Briefing Room of the White House on November 19, 2020. (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
“Today will be the first day where there will be substantive discussions between me and the Biden team,” he added. “I’m very pleased that today we’re having the first discussion about a number of things, vaccinations and things like that.”
“I would have liked to have seen us getting involved with the team as early as we possibly can because we want the smooth transition to occur,” Fauci, who has taken part in five presidential transitions, continued. “Everyone believes that a smooth transition is certainly better than no transition.”
WATCH:
Dr. Anthony Fauci tells @MajorCBS he’s staying at @NIH and has spoken with incoming White House chief of staff @RonaldKlain. Today, he’ll meet with the @JoeBiden landing team via Zoom. pic.twitter.com/AYTUF7ZnEQ
— The Takeout w/ Major Garrett (@TakeoutPodcast) December 3, 2020
Biden himself stated his desire to work with Fauci on coronavirus mitigation.
“Trump said he’s going to fire Dr. Fauci. I’ve got a better idea,” Biden said in Pennsylvania at his final campaign event of the election. “Let’s fire Trump, and I’ll hire Dr. Fauci.”
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