President Donald Trump is sharing why he will not allow Dr. Anthony Fauci to testify before the House.
“The House is a setup. The House is a bunch of Trump-haters,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House on Tuesday morning.
He continued, “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.”
Watch the video below:
REPORTER: Why won't you let Fauci testify before the House?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 5, 2020
TRUMP: "Because the House is a set up. The House is a bunch of Trump haters … they, frankly, want our situation to be unsuccessful, which means death." pic.twitter.com/G3G5OoV5IV
Trump appeared to be referring to the newly created committee designed to oversee the federal coronavirus response and “ensure that taxpayer dollars are being wisely and efficiently.”
The panel will be chaired by Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), and last week House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) named six Democrats to the committee, including Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).
Many of the Democrats appointed to the committee have been vocal critics of Trump and supported the House’s impeachment effort last year. Pelosi argued that they would bring “outstanding mastery of Congressional oversight and decades of experience” to the committee.
The panel is supposed to be bipartisan. However, Politico reports that it is unclear if Republicans will appoint members to the committee.
While the Trump administration has blocked Fauci from testifying before the House, the president said, “Dr. Fauci will be testifying in front of the Senate, and he looks forward to doing that.”
He added, “The House, I will tell you, they should be ashamed of themselves. And frankly, the Democrats should be ashamed. Because they want us to fail so they can win an election, which they’re not going to win.”
On Friday, the White House blocked Fauci from testifying before Congress. In a statement, a White House spokesperson said, “While the Trump administration continues its whole-of-government response to COVID-19, including safely opening up America again and expediting vaccine development, it is counter-productive to have the very individuals involved in those efforts appearing at congressional hearings.”