Tuesday, July 27, 2021

Global – 194,600,000/4,200,000; USA – 34,500,000/609,000 Just got a call from Jeff that he wants me to brief the President today about the issues discussed above. It is very clear and unfortunate that confidence in Rochelle is very low within the White House team of Jeff, Courtney Rowe, and others. STAY TUNED Had a good conversation with the President in the Oval Office this afternoon at 12:30. I explained to him the new CDC guidelines for wearing masks indoors even if you are vaccinated given the fact that the delta variant is causing breakthrough infections in vaccinated individuals and vaccinated individuals with breakthrough infections can transmit the virus two uninfected individuals. In addition, I explained to him the data that the level of virus in the nasopharynx of vaccinated people with breakthrough infections is similar to the level of virus in the nasopharynx of unvaccinated infected people. We had a good conversation; he asked a lot of good questions. Right before the discussion he was on the phone with former senator Barbara Boxer who had just been mugged outside of her house. She asked to talk to me when she heard that the president would be meeting with me and we had a good conversation. She relayed that she felt very badly that idiots are attacking me and that she always has had the highest degree of regard for me. She recalled back in the days when we were fighting HIV together. I asked the president if Jill had come back from the Olympics in Tokyo. The President informed me that she had and so I sent her my regards through him. As Jeff , Natalie Quillian, and I were sitting in front of the Resolute Desk, I had a very strange, almost out of body experience. I just recalled at that time so clearly the bizarre situations that I had been through in the past when I sat in front of the desk trying to brief President trump. I recalled his incredible lack of concentration ability where his attention span was measured in seconds rather than minutes. This is in stark contrast to the seriousness, dignity, and integrity that now permeates the entire White House, particularly the Oval Office. Only now in retrospect do I fully appreciate what a disaster Trump was as President. This applies not only to his policies, but to the fact that he diminished the dignity of the presidency enormously. The feeling in the Oval Office now is very similar to what I experienced when I was in the Oval Office with presidents George HW Bush, George W Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. This is such an entirely different feeling and vibration that I have when I enter the room and sit down either on the couch or in front of the desk. There was always that feeling of anxiety with Trump where I was anticipating that he would say or do something outlandish. PRESS: Big announcement from CDC about masking for vaccinated people indoors attracting much media – Print interviews with NY Times and Washington Post. The Intercept: Rand Paul’s Attack on Anthony Fauci Chills Scientific Debate Over Gainof-Function Research https://bit.ly/3iR7zHP The Black News Channel “The World Tonight”; NBC “Nightly News” with Lester Holt; NPR “All Things Considered” with Ari Shapiro; PBS “NewsHour” with Judy Woodruff; Univision National TV; Telemundo TV; CNN with Chris Cuomo; MSNBC with Chris Hayes; A Man Was Arrested For Allegedly Threatening To Kill Anthony Fauci And His Family The 56-year-old sent emails with a long list of threats, including to beat Fauci and his family to death, prosecutors said. Nicole FallertBuzzFeed News Reporter Posted on July 27, 2021, at 6:35 p.m. ET J. Scott Applewhite / AP Anthony Fauci addresses Sen. Rand Paul on July 20. A 56-year-old man was arrested for allegedly sending messages threatening Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease scientist, and his family, saying they would be “dragged into the street, beaten to death, and set on fire.” Thomas Patrick Connally Jr. of Greenbelt, Maryland, was charged with threats against a federal official and interstate communication containing a threat to harm, according to a federal criminal complaint filed Monday. ADVERTISEMENT “We will never tolerate violent threats against public officials,” acting US Attorney Jonathan Lenzner said in the complaint. “Our public health officials deserve our thanks and appreciation for their tireless work, and we will not hesitate to bring charges against those individuals who seek to use fear to silence these public servants.” Connally allegedly sent threatening emails from December 2020 to July 2021 telling Fauci to "blow your own fucking brains out" and referred to the doctor as a "liar" and a "fraud." The threats to Fauci and his family were sent from an email account via a provider of encrypted services based in Switzerland, according to investigators. "Hope you get a bullet in your compromised satanic elf skull today," the subject line of two emails Fauci received in December 2020 states. On April 24 alone, he received seven emails from the encrypted email account, according to the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint. The emails also encourage Fauci to kill himself and contain death threats against him and his family. If convicted, Connally faces up to 10 years in federal prison for threats against a federal official and a maximum of five years in federal prison for interstate communication containing a threat to harm. ADVERTISEMENT Twitter: @MacFarlaneNews This isn't the first time Fauci and his family received death threats amid the coronavirus pandemic, and it's only gotten worse as conservatives manifest their frustration over COVID-19 restrictions into more vitriol. Just last week, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida announced drink koozies and Tshirts reading "Don't Fauci My Florida" as part of a campaign, the Washington Post reported. Fox News host Tucker Carlson has called Fauci — now a White House medical adviser — a "fraud" and has pushed for an investigation of the doctor's role concerning the origins of COVID-19. Republican members of the House filed a "Fire Fauci Act" in April. Fauci's strained relationship with former president Donald Trump has also made him a target for conservatives. The doctor told the New York Times earlier this year of his difficulty to get Trump to listen to his scientific recommendations. "I would try to express the gravity of the situation, and the response of the president was always leaning toward, 'Well, it’s not that bad, right?' And I would say, 'Yes, it is that bad,'" Fauci told the Times. ADVERTISEMENT Fauci has been vocal about the death threats directed at him and his family, which he told the Times started as early as March 2020. In one instance, he received a letter containing powder that exploded all over his face and chest. "Getting death threats for me and my family and harassing my daughters to the point where I have to get security is just, I mean, it's amazing," Fauci said during an online forum last year. At that time, he called the threats "unseemly things that crises bring out in people." Fauci told CNN this week that the US is "going in the wrong direction" in terms of COVID-19 cases. He blamed unvaccinated Americans for the surge in infections, particularly with the more contagious Delta variant. Connally is due to appear in a federal court on Wednesday. Story also covered in other media – New York Post, Axios, Forbes, Newsweek, CNN, The Hill