Dr. Deborah Birx, the coronavirus response coordinator for President Donald Trump's COVID task force, told ABC News in an exclusive interview that she was "paralyzed" when Trump mentioned injecting disinfectant into people to treat the virus – and revealed how she believes data meant to keep New York City playgrounds open prompted the president to make the rash decision.Birx also said she formed a contract with other doctors on Trump's team, including Anthony Fauci, that if one of them was fired, they would all leave. She spoke with Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News' top medical correspondent, before the Tuesday release of her new book.
She was unprepared to deal with the toxic political atmosphere that was the Trump White House from the beginning, as she recounted in her book "Silent Invasion: The Untold Story of the Trump Administration, COVID-19, and Preventing the Next Pandemic Before It's Too Late."
'I still think about that every day,' Birx says of Trump's disinfectant 'injection' incident.
Despite the fact that she was the only member of Trump's team with hands-on experience dealing with a deadly pandemic, she claims she was continuously ignored.However, many Americans have associated Birx with her reluctance to confront Trump more firmly during the April 23, 2020 White House press briefing.
According to Birx, a Department of Homeland Security scientist had just informed Trump on how it appeared that sunshine made the playgrounds safe."So, let's say we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it's UV or just a very powerful light — and you said it hasn't been evaluated because of the tests," Trump remarked. "And then I said, what if you brought the light into the body, which you can do through the skin or in some other way, and I believe you said you're going to test that as well.""I saw the disinfectant that eliminates it in one minute. Is it possible to perform something similar by injecting something inside or cleaning it? As you can see, it gets into the lungs and wreaks havoc on them, therefore it'd be worthwhile to investigate "Continued the president.
"I wanted to be able to convince the parents that the sun's inherent cleaning activity, with its ability to release those free radicals that eat these viruses, bacteria, and fungi, their membranes," Birx told Ashton. "And that they could take their kids to the playground to play."
But Birx squirmed uncomfortably in her seat when she said she observed Trump and the government scientist continue their debate informally in front of the cameras – and the president make the leap to publicly query if humans could be treated with disinfection.
"All I wanted was for it to be like 'The Twilight Zone,' and for everything to disappear," Birx remarked. "I mean, in that moment, I could see everything collapsing."In a Monday interview with "Good Morning America," Birx also addressed the situation.
She told her co-anchor George Stephanopoulos, "This was a tragedy on many levels."
"I immediately went to his most senior staff, and Olivia Troye, and said this has to be overturned immediately," she recalled, referring to Vice President Mike Pence's then-adviser Troye."And the president said that was a joke by the next morning," Birx remarked. "However, I believe he realized that this was perilous by that evening."
Birx expressed concern that Americans mistakenly believed Trump was speaking directly to her when, in fact, he was mostly engaging with a Homeland Security scientist. "Deborah, have you ever heard of that?" Trump did question at one point. Yes, when it comes to certain viruses, heat and light are important, but what about this virus?"
She responded, "Not as a treatment." "I mean, fever is undoubtedly beneficial. It helps your body respond when you have a fever. But not in the same way that — I haven't noticed heat or (inaudible)."
Birx now admits that she wishes she could have said more.
"We'd spent so much time urging everyone to take the virus seriously, and we had a whole sequence of activities that were crucial to preserving American lives at the time," Birx said. "I could see how things would fall apart after that."Doctors had made a deal to resign, according to Birx.
Birx also revealed in her book that she and other doctors on Trump's coronavirus task team made a deal that if one of them was removed, they would all resign.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, were among the doctors, she added."I wasn't concerned about getting fired because I was dual-hatted, and I planned to return to the State Department and my PEPFAR position, full time," Birx told Ashton, referring to her post as the coordinator of the US government's HIV/AIDS program, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
MORE: One day after Birx said the epidemic was "extraordinarily widespread," Trump claimed the "virus" is diminishing.
"I was really concerned about Bob and Steve," she claimed, referring to Redfield and Hahn, "because you could hear in the hallways how people were talking about them." "As a result, I went to the vice president several times to request that Bob and Steve be called because I was concerned that they would feel threatened." And I told the chief of staff that if anything happened to Bob or Steve, we'd all have to go."
When asked if that ever came close to happening, Birx responded, "There were times when I felt like Steve was under a lot of strain" when it came to vaccine development.
"I wanted him to know that no matter what happened, I would always have his back," she explained. "And I believe we all understood— we all understood what it was like to be there and in the trenches." They did, however, have the opportunity to return to respective agencies following the task force. I was still a White House resident.
"However," she said, "they were aware enough of what was going on in the White House to recognize that we were all in danger at some point."
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