Dr. Deborah Birx said the entire White House, including Donald Trump was upset with her last year after a CNN interview in which she warned of the danger COVID poses to rural areas and other isolated communities.
Birx told CNN’s Sanjay Gupta in an interview set to air on Sunday that she was called to Trump’s office for a “very uncomfortable” and “very difficult” conversation.
“I think you’ve heard other conversations other people have posted with the president. I would say it was even more direct than what people have heard,” Birx said.
“It was very uncomfortable, very direct, very difficult to hear,” she added.
Asked by Gupta if she was threatened, Birx paused then said, “I would say it was a very uncomfortable conversation.”
In last year’s interview with CNN, Birx warned that the coronavirus is ‘extraordinarily widespread” in rural areas and people should continue to follow CDC guidelines.
“What we are seeing today is different from March and April. It is extraordinarily widespread. It’s into the rural as equal urban areas,” Birx said at the time. “To everybody who lives in a rural area, you are not immune or protected from this virus. If you’re in multi-generational households, and there’s an outbreak in your rural area or in your city, you need to really consider wearing a mask at home, assuming that you’re positive, if you have individuals in your households with comorbidities. This epidemic right now is different and it’s more widespread and it’s both rural and urban.”
