Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) faced questions from Fox News on Wednesday about why he has called to disband the White House coronavirus task forces as COVID-19 cases are rising in his state of Arizona.
During an interview with Fox News host Sandra Smith, Biggs accused Dr. Anthony Fauci -- the top U.S. infection disease expert -- of "inconsistencies" because he had changed his mind about recommending that people wear face masks.
"If I could stop you there," Smith interrupted. "Even the president has talked about how highly respected Dr. Fauci is as a doctor, as a medical expert. And doctors we have every day on this program -- Fox News contributors -- talk about how highly respected he is. So, are you discounting him altogether?"
"No, I think his time has come and gone," Biggs opined. "What he said to [this week] is completely contradictory to what he said two, three months ago when he said we're going to flatten the curve and we've got to get out of this."
Smith then turned to the surging number of coronavirus cases in Arizona.
"You are now looking at a record," she explained. "The highest number of coronavirus deaths, that was reported as of Tuesday. You are emerging as a new hotspot. One of your local publications in your state is basically calling you out, Congressman, for saying that you want to do away with Dr. Fauci and [Dr. Deborah Birx] and the coronavirus task force because you believe they are making the president look bad."
"That's not why I want to get rid of the task force or Fauci or Birx," Biggs replied before disputing Smith's characterization of the spike in COVID-19 cases in Arizona.
"We start looking at hospitalizations, we're down over 100% over the last 30 days," the Arizona Republican continued. "We look at the case fatality rate, we're down over 100% over the last 30 days, including the numbers yesterday... So we are down on those numbers, on those case rates."
"I'm not saying [Fauci and Birx] make Trump look bad, I'm saying they engender hysteria and panic," he remarked.
Smith stopped him there: "Don't we have a duty as Americans to follow the guidance of doctors and the science and the study of this disease that we still don't know so much about? And as a member of Congress, to discount the medical advice of these doctors, isn't that a major risk?"
"I'm not discounting the advice of medical doctors!" Biggs said. "I talk to doctors on a regular basis. I talk to doctors who are treating patients, who are treating COVID cases."
"If you are relying solely on Fauci and Birx, that is a problem," he added, "because they're not taking into account the granular data that's available in states like Arizona."
Watch the video below from Fox News.
