(CNN) A new book written by one of President Joe Biden’s top coronavirus advisers suggests Dr. Deborah Birx hoped former President Donald Trump would lose the 2020 presidential election.
In “Preventable,” his new book detailing the federal government’s failures on mitigating the pandemic, Andy Slavitt writes that he met with Birx last August in Minnesota after she briefed local officials.
Once a close adviser to Trump, she had been cast out of his inner circle by that time and replaced by Dr. Scott Atlas, a radiologist with no epidemiological experience whom Trump hired after watching him on Fox News.
Sidelined from her once prominent role, Birx spent her days traveling the country and providing detailed data to government officials. It was one of those briefings in Minnesota that she invited Slavitt to attend.
“I wanted to get a sense for whether, in the event of a strained transition of government, she would help give Biden and his team the best chance to be effective,” Slavitt writes in his new book, even though the outcome of the election was not yet known.
“At one point, after a brief pause, she looked me in the eye and said, ‘I hope the election turns out a certain way,'” Slavitt writes. “I had the most important information I needed.”
CNN has reached out to Birx for comment.
For the last six months, Slavitt has served as Biden’s senior adviser on the Covid-19 response. That public-facing position included regular television appearances and weekly briefings with reporters.
Slavitt stepped down from that role on Thursday, citing a 130-day limit on special government employees. His new book, a copy of which was obtained by CNN, comes out Tuesday.
During their conversation last August, Birx told Slavitt she had been “completely silenced” and was not allowed to make appearances on national media.
It was a sharp turn from Birx’s earlier proximity to Trump, which included regular briefings in front of reporters and private consultations in the Oval Office … Click here to read more.
