Psaki lauds Fauci after release of emails from early days of the pandemic

During the White House briefing on Thursday, press secretary Jen Psaki praised Dr. Anthony Fauci’s role in the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, after his emails from January to June 2020 were released this week as the result of Freedom of Information Act requests by news organizations.

Video Transcript

- Thank you, Jen. I know that you don't want to really litigate what happened when Biden was in the Oval Office and when those emails--

JEN PSAKI: Uh-oh, that's a set-up. [CHUCKLES]

- Fair enough. But has anyone from your team briefed the president on what was in those [INAUDIBLE] Fauci emails?

JEN PSAKI: I'm not aware of him being briefed on the publicly reported emails.

- And then given that there were some things that Fauci said privately that contracted-- contrasted with what he said publicly, whether it was masks or whether or not someone who had the virus could have immunity, or you know, other questions as well. I mean, does he still have confidence in his NIH Director? Does this change anything at all, because--

JEN PSAKI: No, the president and the administration feel that Dr. Fauci has played an incredible role in getting the pandemic under control, being a voice to the public throughout the course of this pandemic. And again, I would reiterate, a lot of these emails are from 17 months ago or more, certainly predating this administration, but some time ago in-- as we look to history.