'Malicious incompetence': Dem lawmaker slams Dr. Birx for being complicit 'in hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths'

On Saturday, in response to former President Donald Trump's COVID-19 task force adviser Dr. Deborah Birx's claim that hundreds of thousands of people could have been saved from dying with better health policies, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) furiously pointed out on Twitter that it was in large part Birx's own willingness to indulge Trump's fantasies that led to the government's inability to prevent the spread of the virus.

"The malicious incompetence that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths starts at the top, with the former President and his enablers," wrote Lieu, whose own state was one of the first to experience a deadly surge of the virus. "And who was one of his enablers? Dr. Birx, who was afraid to challenge his unscientific rhetoric and wrongfully praised him."

In contrast to Dr. Anthony Fauci, whose leadership has widely been lauded and who was kept on in an advisory role by President Joe Biden, Birx has faced constant criticism for her mixed messaging on the pandemic, and announced her retirement ahead of Trump's departure from the White House.