ABC’s David Muir allows President Trump to lie about Dr. Birx and Dr. Fauci advising in late February that coronavirus would “blow over”
Published
Citation From the May 5, 2020, edition of ABC's World News Tonight
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Look, let me, let me tell you this. I closed the border, if you want to use that term. I banned people from coming into China. There were approximately 40,000 Americans. If you were in my position, you would — you would let them come in. You could ask Ron DeSantis, great governor of Florida. Those people went through quarantine, they went through tests, they went through everything, but they were American citizens. I had to let them come back in. But I came in, and what I did is, I said — against many people, including Anthony Fauci, who I like very much, including Deborah, who I like very much, the doctors, and many other people — they said, ‘Don't ban China, it's going to blow over.' And they said this at the end of February.
Now, at the same time, I want to be optimistic. I don't want to be Mr. Gloom and Doom. It's a very bad subject. I'm not looking to tell the American people, when nobody really knows what's happening yet, oh, this is going to be so tragic. I want to be — aside from everything else, and I'm going to use a term, and some people love it, and some people hate it, but I love it. I want to be a cheerleader for our country.