Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) found himself in hot water during an interview with Fox News host Neil Cavuto on Thursday after demanding the disbandment of the White House Coronavirus Task Force amid surging COVID-19 cases in several cities.
Earlier Thursday, Biggs ripped White House Coronavirus Task Force members Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx in a statement praising the June jobs report. Biggs accused them of “causing panic” by contradicting President Trump’s “goals and actions for returning to normalcy” and called for the disbandment of the task force so that the President’s “message is not mitigated or distorted.”
Biggs repeated his tirade against Fauci and Birx during an interview with Cavuto on Thursday afternoon, saying that they’ve “expired.”
“Their time of usefulness has expired,” Biggs told Cavuto. “What they do is when the President comes out and makes a policy, because he is the President and he is the policymaker, when they make these statements that they make, they engender panic and hysteria and undermine what the President is doing. That’s what’s critical.”
After Biggs accused Fauci for being “all over the ballpark” regarding wearing masks to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, Cavuto expressed his disbelief with the Arizona Republican by pointing out the recent surge in coronavirus cases and pressing him on whether this is the time to disband the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
Biggs pushed back by accusing Cavuto of “cherry picking” data points before attributing his state’s high number of coronavirus cases on a per capita basis to “mostly coming from the age 20 to 44 brackets.”
After Biggs claimed that Arizona had “a reduction in hospitalizations by 50, excuse me, almost 100 percent” over the past three weeks, Cavuto hit back by expressing his disbelief again over his call for Trump to disband the coronavirus task force due to disagreeing with Birx and Fauci’s remarks.
“Doesn’t he refer to them as the health experts? Doesn’t he have a commission because he defers to them as the health experts?” Cavuto asked Biggs. “And they are citing worries and they are citing also that we can get this under control. It needn’t be a panic if people should do what they’re supposed to be doing. But isn’t that what doctors do, look at people’s lives?”
Biggs went on to question the last time Fauci and Birx treated a coronavirus patient, before Cavuto cut in to ask Biggs the same question.
“But you’re telling the ones who are to get out, get off the commission, ‘We don’t need you,’” Cavuto said, while raising his voice.
Biggs replied by reiterating his argument that the coronavirus task force “may not be necessary anymore” and that he thinks “it’s a good idea” to disband it “for different reasons.”
Watch Biggs’ remarks below:
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) clashes with Fox News' Neil Cavuto after demand to disband White House Coronavirus Task Force pic.twitter.com/iochaZEkoK
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) July 2, 2020
