The public must trust that the government is giving them the right information when it comes to the potential of a health epidemic, but there is a "dissonance" between what President Donald Trump and the National Institutes of Health are saying, Dr. Zeke Emanuel, a former Obama administration health adviser who is now with the World Health Organization, said Thursday.
"You are going to see this reflected in many outcomes," Emanuel told CNN's "New Day." "Maybe the one that gets the president's attention will be the stock market. Maybe we can't trust what comes out of the president's and the White House's mouth. That will be a very dangerous moment."
He pointed out that the United States' first confirmed case of coronavirus community spread was confirmed before the president's press conference, and that was "a very bad judgment on their part to withhold information from the public, which is eventually going to come out."
Trump's announcement that Vice President Mike Pence will be in charge of the response to the disease's threat, along with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, is "confusing," Emanuel added.
CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta also said he finds the White House's response confusing, particularly after he'd asked Trump about comparisons between the coronavirus mortality rate and that of the flu.
"He was learning sort of as we go along," said Gupta. "That was a concern, and it also wasn't clear to me that the things that go into place as a result of having that knowledge are going into place."
Emanuel said he's concerned that too many outside factors like this summer's Tokyo Olympics and the stock market are being taken into consideration and driving judgment, rather than good science.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.