‘Everything he says is false’: NBC reporter overheard CDC director slamming Trump coronavirus adviser
28 September 2020
Dr. Scott Atlas has turned into President Donald Trump's favorite member of the White House coronavirus response team, and Atlas is clashing with other health experts in the federal government — including Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Journalist Monica Alba, on NBC News' website, reports that NBC overheard Redfield criticizing Atlas vehemently during a recent flight from Atlanta to Washington, D.C.
"Everything he says is false," NBC News heard Redfield say of Atlas while speaking on the phone during that flight.
Atlas has been a major critic of the social distancing measures and stay-at-home orders that have been enacted in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and he believes that if enough people are exposed to COVID-19, the United States will achieve "herd immunity" and neutralize the deadly virus. Redfield and Dr. Anthony Fauci strongly disagree with Atlas' "herd immunity" views, and many health experts have been warning that following Atlas' advice could cause the COVID-19 death toll to soar into the millions in the United States.
After that flight, Alba reports, Redfield "acknowledged" that "he was speaking about Atlas, a neuroradiologist with no background in infectious diseases or public health.