Trump accuses Dr. Birx of taking Pelosi's 'bait' after the health expert issued stark warnings about the coronavirus' spread

• President Donald Trump accused Dr. Deborah Birx of taking the "bait" after the health expert issued stark warnings about the pandemic following criticism from Nancy Pelosi.
• The House Speaker said on Sunday that the administration is spreading "disinformation" about the coronavirus with help from Birx.
• Trump's attack on Birx came a day after the public health expert warned that Covid-19 is increasingly penetrating rural communities and urged Americans to take much stricter precautions.
• "In order to counter Nancy, Deborah took the bait & hit us. Pathetic!" Trump tweeted.

President Donald Trump on Monday accused Dr. Deborah Birx, one of his leading public health advisers, of taking the "bait" for issuing stark warnings about the spread of Covid-19 days after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attacked her pandemic response efforts.

The president lashed out at Pelosi and Birx on Monday morning, arguing that Birx had "hit" his administration in response to Pelosi's criticism.

"So Crazy Nancy Pelosi said horrible things about Dr. Deborah Birx, going after her because she was too positive on the very good job we are doing on combatting the China Virus, including Vaccines & Therapeutics," Trump tweeted. "In order to counter Nancy, Deborah took the bait & hit us. Pathetic!"

Pelosi told top White House officials last week that the country was in "horrible hands" with Birx, arguing that she'd helped the administration spread disinformation about Covid-19, Politico reported. The Speaker stood by those comments on Sunday, telling ABC's "This Week" that she doesn't have "confidence" in Birx's leadership.

During a CNN interview on Sunday, Birx warned that Covid-19 is increasingly penetrating rural communities and urged Americans to take much stricter precautions. She recommended that those infected with the virus and living with vulnerable people wear a mask inside their homes.

"What we are seeing today is different from March and April. It is extraordinarily widespread. It's into the rural as equal urban areas," Birx, the response coordinator for the federal coronavirus task force, told CNN's "State of the Union."

Birx also said the Trump administration "reset" its pandemic response "about five to six weeks ago" when outbreaks began spiking in southern states.

The White House didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

The New York Times reported last month that Birx has played a central role in the administration's months-long effort to downplay the threat of the pandemic. The Times wrote that, inside the West Wing, Birx was "the chief evangelist for the idea that the threat from the virus was fading."

While sources told the Times that Birx was focused on the data, she underestimated the detrimental effect that Trump's messaging on mitigation — including his refusal to wear a mask and his aggressive push to reopen the country — would have on the spread of Covid-19.

Birx has worked much more closely than other top public health officials have with the president and his top advisers on the federal pandemic response. While Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, has gone several weeks without briefing or meeting with the president, Birx has an office in the West Wing.