‘I take no pleasure at all in being in a situation of contradicting the president,’

Dr. Anthony Fauci gave an update on the coronavirus pandemic at the White House briefing room Thursday, during which he also made time to subtly shade the Trump Administration. 

The nation’s top infectious disease expert outlined the ongoing challenges as COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the nation. Fauci had often been sidelined and dismissed by former President Donald Trump, which could be why he described working with President Biden as “liberating.” 

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“I can tell you I take no pleasure at all in being in a situation of contradicting the president, so it was really something that you didn’t feel you could actually say something and there wouldn’t be any repercussions about it,” Fauci told reporters, per The Hill. “The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know, what the evidence and science is, and know that’s it — let the science speak — it is somewhat of a liberating feeling.”

theGRIO previously reported, the new president has vowed to take far more aggressive measures to contain the virus than his predecessor, starting with stringent adherence to public health guidance – including a requirement that Americans mask up for travel.

Fauci also announced renewed U.S. support for the World Health Organization after the Trump administration had pulled out of the global body. Fauci said early Thursday that the U.S. will join the U.N. health agency’s efforts to bring vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics to people in need, whether in rich or poor countries and will resume full funding and staffing support for WHO.

“Above all, our plan is to restore public trust,” President Biden said Thursday. “That’s why you’re going to be hearing a lot more from Dr. Fauci, not from the president, but from the real genuine experts and scientists.”

Speaking at the White House press briefing, Fauci noted Biden’s willingness to be “completely transparent, open and honest.”

Read More: TIME marks start of Biden’s presidency with cover of Oval Office trashed by Trump

“One of the things that was very clear as recently as about 15 minutes ago when I was with the president, is that one of the things we’re going to do is be completely transparent, open and honest,” he explained. “If things go wrong, not point fingers but correct them, and to make everything we do be based on science and evidence. That was literally a conversation I had 15 minutes ago with the president, and he has said that multiple times,” Fauci said.

“We’re coming in with fresh ideas, but also some ideas that were not bad ideas with the previous administration. You can’t say it was absolutely not usable at all,” he added. 

“It’s taking what’s going on, but amplifying it in a big way.”

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