 July 21, 2021 | by Chris Cillizza, Lauren Dezenski and Sonnet Swire The White House's Covid-19 transparency problem  We learned this week that a White House aide had tested positive for Covid-19 despite having been fully vaccinated against the virus.
How did we find out this information, you ask? Axios broke the story, which was quickly confirmed by CNN and virtually every other major media outlet. The White House had said nothing about it. Not a word -- until after, of course, the news had been reported. Which is a problem.
"Joe Biden on Friday criticized President Trump over his administration's response to the novel coronavirus, blaming him for the country's testing shortage and accusing him of a lack of transparency."
Almost a year later, Biden held a news conference as president in which he referenced why he had run for the nation's top office: "I said, 'I'm running for three reasons: to restore the soul, dignity, honor, honesty, transparency to the American political system.' "
None of this is to make an apples-to-apples comparison between Trump's utter lack of transparency and what the Biden administration did regarding its latest Covid-19 case.
But again, Biden pledged to be far BETTER than Trump on issues of transparency. And that matters when we are talking about people who work in and around the White House.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki, when asked directly about Covid-19 breakthrough cases in the building on Tuesday, tried to tread a VERY fine line.
"There have been," she said. "I will say that we, according to an agreement we made during the transition to be transparent and make information available, we committed that we would release information proactively if it is commissioned officers."
Commissioned officers are people who have "assistant to the president" in their title, which is more than 100 people but far from all of the people who work in the White House. As CNN's Betsy Klein reported Tuesday, "Psaki declined to say how many breakthrough cases had been recorded, or what level of staff was affected."
On Wednesday, under pressure, the White House shifted policy. Psaki said that going forward the White House would release Covid-19 cases when the person infected is determined to have come into close contact with President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris or their spouses.
-- Chris QUOTE OF THE DAY "The unprecedented nature of January 6 demands this unprecedented decision." -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected the appointment of Reps. Jim Jordan and Jim Banks to the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection. Chris has more on how Pelosi just doomed the already tiny chances of the 1/6 committee actually mattering. WEDNESDAY'S TOP TWEETS  1. You will be judged by the company you keep 2. Yes, the climate is changing 3. MTG on the Chinese 4. Antony Blinken mad as "Sesame Street" cameo 5. A whole lot of best TV shows ever 7. This dog is a damn hero
CHRIS' GOOD READS  Senate Republicans blocked a vote Wednesday to start debate on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, as they push for more time to strike a deal with Democrats and write the legislation, CNN reports. The vote was 49-51, short of the 60 votes needed to advance the measure.
How much has Covid-19 changed our lives? As a whole, it's made them 1.5 years shorter, according to the CDC. The average American will now live until they are 77.3 years old, says the Wall Street Journal.
Ted Cruz is doing what he does best in the Senate: blocking stuff. This CNN report by Kylie Atwood and Nicole Gaouette suggests the Texas Republican is holding up dozens of State Department appointees until he can get a question on Russia answered. Yes, really.
How do we deal with those people who continue to refuse the Covid-19 vaccine and, in so doing, become potential vectors for the virus? The Los Angeles Times editorial board thinks it's time to break out the stick.
The New York Times says Disney is catching up to Netflix. Which is intriguing!
MUSICAL INTERLUDE Ever since the start of the pandemic, I have gotten way into ambient music. (Thanks, Brian Eno!) My latest find is Corntuth, who has released two amazing albums of ambience over the last two years. His newer release is called "The Desert is Paper Thin."
-- Chris MEANWHILE, IN KENTUCKY A Kentucky state lawmaker ignited a wave of backlash Tuesday after comparing Dr. Anthony Fauci to Jonestown cult leader Jim Jones -- yes, THAT Jim Jones, who caused hundreds of deaths in a mass suicide in the 1970s.
State Rep. Regina Huff, a Republican who serves as Kentucky's House Education Committee chairwoman, shared a photo of Fauci and Jones next to each other with text boxes over them in a since-deleted tweet. The box over Jones read, "I persuaded over 900 people to drink my Koolaid," while the box over Fauci read, "Amateur," the Louisville Courier-Journal first reported.
After Huff deleted her tweet, she walked back her decision to do so by claiming she "did indeed delete the tweet because of the vulgarity within the comments," adding that the original tweet was "representative of the efforts gearing up to mandating and controlling citizens."
-- Sonnet  ONE BIG TOWN HALL  At 8 p.m. Eastern, President Biden will take the stage at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati with moderator Don Lemon for an hourlong CNN town hall event. Follow CNN's live coverage. You are receiving this message because you subscribed to CNN's The Point with Chris Cillizza newsletter. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get The Point in your inbox.
Send your tips and thoughts via email to Chris Cillizza and Lauren Dezenski. You can follow Chris and Lauren on Twitter and connect with The Point on:
Our mailing address is:
Copyright © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., All rights reserved. | |||||||||||||||||||||
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
Top Articles
-
Baird and NWSL general counsel Lisa Levine were ousted Friday in the wake of a rep...
-
Plus: The high costs of housing, school board politics and alien life abroad July 16, 2021 View in B...
Our Hindi Website
www.hindi.men
