CDC director overheard blasting Trump's new coronavirus adviser, Scott Atlas

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was reportedly overheard sharply criticizing a new White House coronavirus task force member for repeated "false" statements.

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, is "concerned" that President Trump is "sharing incorrect information" about the COVID-19 pandemic publicly, and he suggested to a colleague that Dr. Scott Atlas, new White House coronavirus task force adviser, is providing the president with "misleading data," NBC News reports. In fact, NBC reportedly heard Redfield slamming Atlas on a phone call made on a flight, saying, "Everything he says is false."

Redfield, according to the report, subsequently confirmed to NBC that he was talking about Atlas on the call. A CDC spokesperson said in a statement that NBC is "reporting one side of a private phone conversation" and that Redfield "was having a private discussion regarding a number of points he has made publicly about COVID-19." Atlas told NBC that "everything I have said is directly from the data and the science."

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

The CDC director isn't the first official to reportedly have concerns about the influence of Atlas, who has no background in infectious diseases and has reportedly controversially pushed for a herd immunity strategy, in the White House. Recently, CNN reported that Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus task force response coordinator, sees Atlas as "an unhealthy influence" on Trump and believes he is "feeding the president misleading information about the efficacy of face masks for controlling the spread of the virus." Birx, that report also said, is unsure "how much longer she can serve in her position."

Additionally, there is "concern" among Redfield and other officials that Atlas "misrepresents what other health experts have said in sworn testimony" when briefing Trump. Read more at NBC News.