Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Brett Giroir pushed back Tuesday on President Donald Trump’s attacks on officials amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“Look, we may occasionally make mistakes based on the information we have, but none of us lie. We are completely transparent with the American people. We let the American people know what we know,” he told NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie during an interview on “Today.”
Giroir, who serves as the White House’s coronavirus testing czar, continued, “Again, as new information comes, that may need to be changed because we’re learning every day, but nobody lies to the American people. We’re completely transparent and honest.”
Guthrie asked him about Trump’s Monday retweet of a message from former game show host Chuck Woolery that said “everyone is lying” about the coronavirus early Monday morning — including his administration’s own Centers for Disease Control.
“The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19. Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust. I think it’s all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I’m sick of it,” wrote Woolery in the post that was then retweeted by the president.
Giroir responded he doesn’t spend time looking at Twitter.
Coronavirus cases in the United States continue to surge as the death toll has exceeded 135,000. Many states have tightened reopening guidelines as a response.
Watch above via NBC News.