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Fauci declares WHCA dinner too dangerous, but the pre-event brunch without masks, no problem

May 2, 2022 | | Print Article

Dr. Anthony Fauci declared last week that he would not attend the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner that took place Saturday evening due to concerns about Covid-19, yet there he was over the weekend attending the WHCD Garden Brunch… sans a face mask.

Fauci, 81, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and President Biden’s top Covid adviser, cited his age in telling CNN, “I’m 81 years old, and if I get infected, I have a much higher risk.”

A photo from the WHCA garden party is telling in more ways than one, as Fauci is seen posing with CNN host Don Lemon and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart — defenders will note that the event was outdoors.

Biden, two years his junior, was less concerned about those risks and attended the dinner without a mask. All of which adds to the confusion that Fauci drove last week when he first declared “we are out of the pandemic phase,” only to later clarify that he meant we are not in a “full-blown explosive” phase of the pandemic — likely after a brushback from White House, some speculate.

There was no shortage of Democrats on hand at the garden party, rubbing elbows with journalists and celebrities. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), are seen posing below — again without masks.

Other Democrats in attendance, according to Politico, included White House press secretary Jen Psaki, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) and Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.)

And while masks were scarce, it appears that some at the event did have their faces covered, as conservative commentator Jack Posobiec pointed out:

Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story from Twitter:

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