A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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April 28, 2004 - White House (West Wing) - Met in Kristen Silverberg's office to discuss the FDC issue (see above). Much discussion regarding our approach to FDCs in the PEPFAR program. At meeting were the usual group: Kristen, Mark Dybul, Joe O'Neill, Mark McClellan, some FDA economists, Emit (FDA), Carol Thompson. I spoke with Kristen by phone after the meeting about my chose vis-à-vis options.
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April 28-29, 2004 - Gary Edson called me and said that he had a "disturbing" conversation with Patty Stonsifer (Gates) in which she mentioned that the USG should promise NEW resources for the Enterprise proposal to the G-8. Gary asked (and I did) call Rick Klausner to get his take. He is comfortable with our proposal. Gary is concerned that Gates will be lukewarm about our proposal and we will have another example of the POTUS trying to do something good and then getting criticized for not doing enough.
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May 4, 2004 - White House (West Wing) - Me with Gary Edson and Patti Stonecifer regarding the HIV Vaccine Enterprise and the upcoming G-8 meeting in Sea Island, GA. We have come to an agreement that if the POTUS presenting the Enterprise proposal to the G-8, Gates will soundly applaud the effort and work with us to get it going. The USG will not promise an new money over and above the $500+ million that we already spend on HIV vaccine research (this is about 5/6 of the world's total of $640 million). However, we will challenge the other G-8 countries to endorse the Enterprise strategic plan and align current and future resources with the plan.
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May 12, 2004 - Big White House day! The President visited the NIH for a "No Child Left Behind - Read First" ceremony. It was held at NIH since the NICHD had some activities in this area. Ceremony held in Natcher Auditorium. I sat in second row and the POTUS recognized me from the stage and greeted me individually noting that I was in the audience. After his talk, he came down to "work the rails" and chatted with me for about a minute on International AIDS. He mentioned that he had just met with the Health Minister of Angola. He was as usual very complementary to me. In the afternoon had a meeting in the WH with Kristen Silverberg, Allan Gilbert, Randy Tobias, Joe O'Neill, Mark McClellan, Lester Crawford and many others about fixed dose combination ARVs (FDCs) and the PEPFAR. We have developed a plan and a roll-out strategy. After the meeting, went to Indian Treaty Room and had a going away reception for Richard Falkenrath of the Homeland Security Council (HSC). Had nice chats with John Gordon (chief of HSC), Tom Ridge, Josh Bolten, Carol Kuntz, Clay Johnson and many others.
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2004-05-19 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
May 19, 2004 - Good day! Project BioShield legislation passed the Semate by a 99-0 vote. The White House asked me to attend a press conference with Sens. Frist, Gregg, and Kennedy as well as Secretary Thompson at the Capitol. We briefed the press and I answered several questions. TGT called me the "father" of the BioShield Bill.
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May 27, 2004 - Went to a nice retirement celebration at the White House (Indian Treaty Room of EEOB) for Gen. John Gordon (Director of the Homeland Security Council). I have developed a very nice relationship with John over the past year or so and he was very glad to see me there. Attending were Andy Card, Condoleezza Rice, Karl Rove, Harriet Meiers, among others. Getting ready to go on June 8-10 to Savannah, GA for the G-8 conference at Sea Island. The White House (Gary Edson et al) wants me there to answer press questions regarding the HIV Vaccine Enterprise Proposal that the President will make to the G-8. Gary asked me to get Peter Piot (Director of UNAIDS) to write an editorial praising the proposal at about the time that it is announced. I am working on this.
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June 2, 2004 - Testified before the House Commerce Committee on Science chaired by Mr. Bilirakis for the NIH Priority Setting in anticipation of reauthorization of NIH. Testified with Elias Z., Andy VonEschenbach and Nora Volkow. Tough questions, but the Hearing went well. Immediately went to brief an IOM Panel on Biodefense. They were very flattering of me and the work that we have done.
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June 3, 2004 - Busy day. Went to Ali's Lower School Graduation and rushed to testify at House Select Committee on Homeland Security chaired by Chris Cox with Jim Turner as ranking minority. Chris Hayes and Joe Barton were there. Many tough questions since the Presidential race is heating up and the Dems want to give the impression that the Administration is not doing enough on Biodefense even though we have accomplished a lot. I did very well. Immediately after the Hearing I rushed to DHHS and briefed Sec. Thompson on the G-8 meeting and the HIV Vaccine Enterprise. Then I rushed to the White House for a meeting called in the West Wing by Kristen Silverberg on the POTUS proposal (maybe) to facilitate vaccine development by addressing liability, intellectual property, tax benefits, and monopoly issues. After WH rushed to go to Jenny's Sports Banquet. She received MVP for the Diving Team.
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June 8-10, 2004 - Went to Savannah, GA (Sea Island) for the G8 Summit hosted by the USA. I was part of a White House Team that served as Presidential Surrogates to brief the Press before, during and after the President's proposals of initiatives to the G8 leaders gathered in Sea Island (UK - Tony Blair, France - Jacques Chirac, Germany - Gerhard Schroder, Italy - Berlusconi, Japan, Canada - , Russia - Putin, and USA). The other surrogates on the Team were: Elliott Abrams (Special Assist. To the president and Senior Director for Near-East and North African Affairs at NSC); Andrew Card (WH Chief of Staff); John R. Bolton (Under Secretary of State, Arms Control and International Security); James L. Connaughton (Chairman, Council on Environmental Quality); Glyn T. Davies (G8 Political Director); Kristen Forbes (Member, Council of Economic Advisors); Jendayi E. Fraser (Special Assistant to the president and Senior Director for African Affairs at NSC); Robert Joseph (Special Assistant to the president and Senior Director for Proliferation Strategy, Counterproliferation and Homeland Defense); Alan P. Larson (Under Secretary of State, Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs); Constance Berry Newman (Assistant Administrator for Africa of USAID); Randall Quarles (Assistant Secretary of Treasury for International Affairs); Condoleezza Rice (National Security Advisor to the President); Frances Fragos Townsend (Assistant to the President and Homeland Security Advisor); Dan Bartlett (White House Communications Director); Scott McClellan (Assistant to the president and White House Press Secretary); Gordon Johndroe (Laura Bush's Press Secretary); and Jim Wilkinson (Deputy National Security Advisor for Communications at NSC). My job was to brief the press at formal and informal briefings on the Health Issues which were mainly the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise (see above), the Polio Eradication Initiative, and to a much lesser extent, the Famine Initiative. I also briefed on the progress of PEPFAR the Global Fund for AIDS, Malaria and TB and the issues on Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) and co-packaged antiHIV drugs. The weather was beautiful and we stayed at the Westin Resort Hotel on Hutchinson Island in Savannah. All I did was work and did not get off the compound. The security to get on and off the compound was as tight as I have seen anywhere except for Iraq. The Press center was adjacent to the Hotel. I spent most of the time in the White House press unit with White House staff led by Pamela Stevens, Paul Morrell, Jim Wilkinson, Barry Bennett (Deputy of Communications, G8 Summit Planning Organization, Colby Cooper, Dana Perino, M.C. Koch, Jana..?, Corey..? and others. It was exciting to be there and I ran into virtually all of my reporter friends on the White House Press Corps including among others, David Gregory, Terry Moran, Norah O'Donnell, Ann Compton, Bill Plant, John Roberts. I had a great interview with an AP reporter Scott Lindlaw, whom I had not met before. The initiatives were very well received. However, as I have seen before, unpredictable events shape everything. Former President Ronald Reagan and died a few days before and the press was totally saturated with Reagan history and funeral news to the point that the G8 issues were literally pushed from the front page. I appeared on TV only one time on CNN and that was for an interview with Anderson Cooper on my impressions of Reagan's legacy on AIDS, particularly during the early years when he did not even mention AIDS publicly. I stated on camera that the criticism of this silence on the part of the activists was certainly justified; however, the activists are being too harsh (Larry Kramer wrote a piece calling him worse than Hitler) since many things occurred behind the scenes that were good. For Example he allowed me to go out and be proactive and speak on behalf of the gay constituents. Also, Surgeon General Koop was allowed to mail his report to every household in the USA. I also got some press with interview in foreign TV such as VOA, Al Jazeera, Canada National TV, BBC, etc. Also, a few mentions of my briefings in WSJ, and many papers that picked up the major AP story by Scott Lindlaw. Otherwise, there was much less press for the G8 in general and for me than would have occurred had not Reagan died.