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MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell slammed the Trump administration for putting pressure on the FDA to approve COVID-19 vaccines, according to Fox News.
Pfizer and Moderna have announced that they would seek out emergency authorization from The Food and Drug Administration to distribute their vaccinations.
Mitchell said, “You’ve got Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff calling in FDA Commissioner, Steve Hahn, Dr. Hahn, calling him on the carpet. What is this all about? The Pfizer rollout and authorization of it, it just seems like unseemly political pressure on the scientists.”
“You’d think… they’d understand that the markets go up with the vaccine production and authorization precisely because the scientists are in charge and the scientists are delivering.”
Kristen Welker replied, “People are suspicious and need to be reassured, don’t need to see former congress members, White House chiefs of staff pressuring scientists who are distinguished medical doctors.”
Mitchell said, “I’m sorry. That was my editorial pitch.”
“With pomp and circumstance, the president is heralding the first Arab nations to recognize Israel since 1994. Both countries have quietly dealt with Israel for years, sharing intelligence against Iran, a common enemy.”
From Fox News:
Mitchell went on to further knock the Trump administration, telling the panel “you’d think… they’d understand that the markets go up with the vaccine production and authorization precisely because the scientists are in charge and the scientists are delivering.”
While it’s been common in the Trump era for so-called straight news journalists to sound off against the current administration, it’s rare for any of them to acknowledge whenever they project their opinions in their reporting. Mitchell wasn’t this frank about her coverage back in September while reporting on the Abraham Accords that was signed by Israel, United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, something she declared “is not Middle East peace.”
She continued, “But today’s agreements open the doors for trade, travel, and tourism. But it is not Middle East peace,” later describing how Palestinians were “abandoned by their Arab neighbors” and how they were left “powerless to do anything except protest.”
