Testing czar says 'none of us lie' after Trump retweets game show host's baseless COVID-19 conspiracy

A Trump administration official was forced to respond to President Trump's retweet of a game show host who claimed doctors are "lying" about COVID-19.

Adm. Brett Giroir, U.S. assistant secretary for health and member of the White House's coronavirus task force, spoke to Today on Tuesday and was asked to weigh in on the baseless conspiracy theory retweeted by Trump. On Monday, Trump retweeted a post from game show host Chuck Woolery claiming that the "CDC, media, Democrats, our doctors," are "lying" about COVID-19 to influence the 2020 presidential election and hurt his campaign.

"Look, we may occasionally make mistakes based on the information we have, but none of us lie," Giroir said in response to the tweet. "We are completely transparent with the American people."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Giroir seemed reluctant to directly criticize Trump's retweet, though, initially saying he's "not a Twitter analyst" and doesn't "spend time looking at any of that on Twitter because who knows what it means and how it's interpreted."

In a press briefing on Monday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany claimed the "intent" of Trump's retweet was to express "displeasure with the CDC, some rogue individuals leaking guidelines prematurely." Brendan Morrow