White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany says House Democrats did not act in “good faith” when they requested that Dr. Anthony Fauci testify before a subcommittee.
During her press briefing on Wednesday, McEnany was pressed on President Donald Trump’s comments about why he had prevented Fauci from testifying before the House.
“It’s important to note that Dr. Fauci will be testifying for the Senate, which means he will be fielding questions from both Democrats and Republicans,” McEnany said, adding, “The House, however, and specifically Chairwoman Nita Lowey’s committee, did not act in good faith.”
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Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany: "The notion that [Dr. Fauci's] being blocked is just farcical." pic.twitter.com/ZzluUcKoeo
— The Hill (@thehill) May 6, 2020
She continued to say that House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) had reached out to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to ask that Fauci be allowed to testify before the House.
However, McEnany said that after three phone calls, Lowey did not provide details about the purpose of the hearing.
“[Meadows] said in the three phone calls, you know, ‘What is the purpose of this hearing? Can you give me subject matter?’ and Lowey was unable to tell the chief of staff with the subject matter was. The last phone call they had was at 10:46 p.m. on that evening, and Lowey agreed to follow up in the morning with details. Those details were never received.”
“Instead, we got a press release. That’s what we call a publicity stunt. We encourage the House to act in good faith, much like the Senate,” she added.
On Tuesday, Trump explained why he did not want Fauci to testify before the House, he said, “The House is a setup. The House is a bunch of Trump-haters.”
“They put every Trump hater on the committee, the same old stuff. They frankly want our situation to be unsuccessful, which means death. … The House has put on an oversight committee Maxine Waters and Maloney, the same people, and it’s just a setup,” he added.
Fauci is slated to testify before the Senate.