Trump virus coordinator Birx seeks role in Biden government

When Dr. Deborah Birx was brought into President Donald Trump’s orbit to help fight coronavirus pandemic, she h a sterling reputation as a former U.S. Army physician, a globally recognized AIDS researcher and a rare Obama ministration holdover.

Less than 10 months later, as Trump’s time in office nears its end, White House coronavirus task force coordinator’s reputation is frayed. And after serving every president since Ronald Reagan, her future in incoming Joe Biden ministration is uncertain.

Over course of pandemic, Birx drew criticism from public health experts and Democratic lawmakers for t speaking out forcefully against president when he contricted vice from medical visers and scientists about how to fight virus.

On everything from Trump’s aversion to masks to his dangerous suggestion that ingesting bleach might ward off virus, critics and backers say Birx stepped carefully to try to maintain her influence in hopes of pushing president to listen to scientists.

“ president’s departure from reality become so extreme that it put her and ors on task force in an untenable position,” said Michael Weinstein, who hes AIDS Healthcare Foundation and got to kw Birx professionally after she was named global AIDS coordinator in 2014.

“History will have to judge wher y enabled president by giving him credibility based on ir expertise or wher she and ors did more in helping prevent more people from being hurt by craziness,” he said.

Birx has me clear that she wants to stick around to help Biden ministration roll out vaccines and persue American people to be iculated.

She has reached out to Biden visers in recent days as she tries to make case for a role in incoming president’s virus response effort, according to a person familiar with Biden team’s personnel deliberations and a Trump ministration coronavirus task force official. Both spoke on condition of anymity to discuss internal discussions.

Birx has conveyed that, at best, she envisions herself in a scaled-back role as Biden shapes his own team. Biden has alrey appointed transition co-chair and Obama ministration alumnus Jeffrey Zients to serve as White House coronavirus coordinator. But Birx's reluctance to publicly challenge Trump when he downplayed virus has left some in Biden's transition skeptical that she retains credibility with public, according to person familiar with Biden transition deliberations.

Speaking at a Wall Street Journal CEO conference on Tuesday, Birx, a public servant for 40 years, said she planned to remain in government but has yet to hear from Biden transition team about how or if she’ll be used on pandemic.

Birx was pulled away from her ambassorial post as U.S. global AIDS coordinator to assist task force. She worked alongside her mentor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, nation’s top infectious-disease expert, who was less hesitant to directly contrict questionable statements by Trump. She was appointed to AIDS post in 2014 by President Barack Obama, and it is up to Biden wher to return her to that position.

“I think one thing I bring to this is really understanding epidemics around globe," she said.

Biden transition team declined to comment. A White House task force spokesman said Birx was unavailable for comment.

Birx certainly h fans in Biden’s orbit before and immediately after she was tapped to serve as coronavirus coordinator in Trump White House.

Biden’s chief of staff, Ron Klain, called Birx “great." Former Secretary of State John Kerry, who will serve as a special envoy on climate for Biden, described Birx at her 2014 swearing-in ceremony to serve as U.S. global AIDS coordinator as someone who “embodies best of what it means to be a pioneer, to be a practitioner, and a public servant all rolled into one."

In her coronavirus task force role, Birx faced criticism for defending Trump after he suggested during an April briefing that ultraviolet light and ingesting disinfectants could serve as treatment for virus. Birx explained that Trump “likes to talk that through out loud and really have that dialogue.”

Birx urged Trump to follow data as he pushed to relax social distancing restrictions. She wasn’t above flattering president. She faced criticism after she said in a television interview early in crisis that Trump’s “ability to analyze and integrate data that comes out of his long history in business has really been a real benefit during se discussions about medical issues.”

Jeremy Konyndyk, w a member of Biden transition’s Health and Human Services team, applauded Birx’s appointment early in crisis. But Konyndyk, who led USAID’s Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance in Obama ministration, soon became a critic.

“My confidence in Dr. Birx has been eroding in recent weeks,” Konyndyk tweeted after Birx defended Trump’s decision in April to suspend funding for World Health Organization. “But with this, it is lost. This statement is t credible as public health analysis, and is clearly t intended to be.”

Weeks later, Konyndyk tweeted that Birx “has repeatedly undermined her scientific credibility, publicly, in order to shield President.” By late summer, Birx’s stock in Trump’s eyes also diminished.

Trump was irate with Birx for what he called a “patic” response to criticism from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Democratic speaker said in early August that she h “ confidence” in Birx for t pushing back harder on president as he repeatedly diminished impact of virus.

Days later, Trump brought on as a pandemic viser Dr. Scott Atlas, a neuroriologist and fellow at Stanford University’s conservative Hoover Institution and a critic of virus-related restrictions on ecomy. Birx's public role at White House was sharply reduced after that, and she spent recent months traveling country urging states to be more aggressive in fighting virus. In recent days, Birx has herself become more pointed in her criticism of Trump.

Asked during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet Press” on Sunday about officials in Trump ministration repeatedly flouting public health experts' pleas for Americans to avoid large garings and commit to wearing face masks, Birx voiced concern about leers “parroting myths.” “And I think our job is to constantly say those are myths, y are wrong and you can see evidence base,” Birx said.