Former Trump Administration Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir joined CNN Newsroom's Ana Cabrera on Friday where he called out the constantly-interrupting host for politicizing the COVID vaccine by falsely accusing the Trump Administration of peddling misinformation.
Cabrera cited a poll that says that 26% of Republicans refuse to get vaccinated and she proceeded to blame Trump for it: "So, this goes back to the tone and the misinformation that took root during the last administration, which you were a part of. Bottom line, too many people don't believe or they don’t care about the facts."
Giroir rejected the framing and turned the tables on CNN:
GIROIR: So there, there was no mis--
CABRERA: But let me ask the question.
GIROIR: There was no misinformation about vaccination.CABRERA: Yes, there was. There was tons of misinformation about the science around COVID.
GIROIR: And in fact your, your network failed to carry.
CABRERA: Excuse me. Let me ask the question because I wasn't trying to point fingers here. My question is how do you break through to those people who are dug in and say they won’t get vaccinated and in part because of all of the misinformation that they have been fed? Is it too late to reach them?
When Giroir was allowed to speak without being interrupted, he called out CNN for it's coverage: "It's never too late and we need to keep trying but I do want to say and you did point a few fingers, the Trump Administration was pro-vaccine. We developed the vaccine, we developed Operation Warp Speed, we sent them out, we had day-long seminars about the vaccine that were not carried by CNN, by the way."
Cabrera interjected in an attempt to defend CNN, but as she tried to change the subject, Giroir challenged that assertion: "Did you, did you cover Operation Warp Speed, the Operation Warp Speed four hour seminar from the White House? You didn’t cover that."
Moving on, Cabrera added, "And the other fact about the matter is, you know, we had the president at the time, but the president at the time was really speaking gibberish about the science and was really casting doubt on the science. Remember the talk about hydroxychloroquine, about bleach, and other things, casting Dr. Fauci in negative light at times, so there was this anti-science mentality that may have confused some people."
Giroir again had to correct the record, "it was never anti-science. I was never censored; I always spoke the truth in science. We followed the science as well as the Biden administration did."
After an incredulous Cabrera asked if Trump really followed the science, Giroir repeated himself and added, "the more that we politicize this and the more we have this kind of political discussion, the less those people you’re concerned about getting vaccinated are going to get vaccinated."
While the Trump administration was working on Warp Speed, CNN was worrying about the potential impact of a rushed vaccine.
This segment was sponsored by Applebee's.
Here is a transcript for the February 4 show:
CNN CNN Newsroom with Ana Cabrera
2/4/2022
1:49 PM ET
ANA CABRERA: And a quarter of Republicans just this month in a Kaiser Family Foundation survey, 26%, continue to say that they will definitely not get vaccinated. That has held steady since December of 2020. So, this goes back to the tone and the misinformation that took root during the last administration, which you were a part of. Bottom line, too many people don't believe or they don’t care about the facts
BRETT GIROIR: So there, there was no mis--
CABRERA: But let me ask the question.
GIROIR: There was no misinformation about vaccination.
CABRERA: Yes, there was. There was tons of misinformation about the science around COVID.
GIROIR: And in fact your, your network failed to carry.
CABRERA: Excuse me. Let me ask the question because I wasn't trying to point fingers here. My question is how do you break through to those people who are dug in and say they won’t get vaccinated and in part because of all of the misinformation that they have been fed? Is it too late to reach them?
GIROIR: It’s never too late and we need to keep trying but I do want to say and you did point a few fingers, the Trump Administration was pro-vaccine. We developed the vaccine, we developed Operation Warp Speed, we sent them out, we had day-long seminars about the vaccine that were not carried by CNN, by the way. We’ve all been vaccinated and promoted it, but I do say look…
CABRERA: We carried all of the public COVID briefings and I, I have to make sure that we clear the record there. And the other --
GIROIR: Did you, did you cover Operation Warp Speed, the Operation Warp Speed four hour seminar from the White House? You didn’t cover that.
CABRERA: And the other fact about the matter is, you know, we had the president at the time, but the president at the time was really speaking gibberish about the science and was really casting doubt on the science. Remember the talk about hydroxychloroquine, about bleach, and other things, casting Dr. Fauci in negative light at times, so there was this anti-science mentality that may have confused some people.
GIROIR: It, it was never anti-science. I was never censored; I always spoke the truth in science. We followed the science as well as the Biden administration did, more people have died under the Biden administration than under Trump. This is not political…
CABRERA: So the president always followed the science?
GIROIR: This is not anti-science. The more, the more that we politicize this and the more we have this kind of political discussion, the less those people you’re concerned about getting vaccinated are going to get vaccinated. Vaccination is not a political issue.
CABRERA: But the numbers don’t lie.
