The Washington Post’s fact-checker has given former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign four “Pinocchios,” for sharing a video claiming that a top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been “silenced” during the coronavirus outbreak.
Biden tweeted a video featuring Ron Klain, a former aide of his who served as Ebola czar during the 2014 outbreak under former President Barack Obama, claiming that the first CDC official “to raise the alarm” received “immediate blowback” from President Donald Trump’s administration.
Klain said that the day after Dr. Nancy Messonnier raised concerns about the virus, she “no longer appeared at public briefings of the White House coronavirus task force. The president and the White House sent a clear message to scientists in the government — there would be a price for speaking out and speaking up.”
Biden tweeted the video with the comment: “Everyone knows that we're facing a real crisis from the coronavirus. But do you know how we got here and what we need to do next? Ron Klain, former White House Ebola Response Coordinator, breaks it down for us.”
According to the Post, Messonnier’s superior, CDC principal deputy director Anne Schuchat, appeared at the press conference that day instead of Messonnier, who has continued to speak with reporters by phone and to appear in videos released on social media.
"The video created a false narrative. The Biden campaign earns Four Pinocchios," the fact-check notes.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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