MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace tossed a series of sugar-coated softballs at Dr. Anthony Fauci during the first interview since his personal emails were made public.
Instead of focusing on the fact that a number of the emails flew in the face of prevailing narratives — about face masks (both the efficacy of and necessity for) and the possibility that the novel coronavirus originated in and then leaked from a Wuhan lab — Wallace praised Fauci for refraining from attacking former President Donald Trump, even in his private emails. (RELATED: ‘A Good Boyfriend If He Wasn’t A Killer’: MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace Compares Trump To ‘Dexter’)
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According to the emails, Fauci was warned by others in the scientific community that the virus could have come from a lab because it was engineered or as the result of gain-of-function research — research that Fauci has defended in the past but told Congress the National Institutes of Health did not fund.
Of course, Wallace did not ask him about that.
Fauci also spoke directly with a number of people in the released emails, saying that despite concerns voiced in the media, he was not being muzzled or censored by anyone in former President Donald Trump’s White House. (RELATED: Biden Claimed Trump ‘Muzzled’ Fauci — But Emails Reveal Fauci Said Otherwise)
Wallace opted not to ask about that, either.
Fauci did note he was not always asked to attend the near-daily Coronavirus Task Force briefings — that was the issue Wallace thought rated a question.
“I wonder if you feel like you’re still making up some of that lost ground from many months under the last administration of not just no information but disinformation being out there,” Wallace said, pointing to Trump as the reason that Fauci might have an uphill battle in getting factual information to the American people. “Do you still see some hardness among his supporters around the vaccine or around some of these messages that you’re sharing today?”
“You’ve got to continue to evolve with the data and that’s what I was trying to do is to always tell the truth on the basis of what the data is and it was never deliberately against the president,” Fauci replied, adding, “If you look at my emails, I never said anything derogatory against the president.”
“The true mark of someone is if they look good even when their personal emails come out, so you passed the test that very few of us would pass,” Wallace responded, clearly impressed.