Tony's Diary Package — page 176

,380,000/84,000 Dick Cheney called me to thank me for what I was doing and to say that he fully supported me. I acknowledged and thanked him and his daughter Liz for sticking up for me after the Senate Hearing yesterday. He was muted in his criticism of Trump, but he did agree that Trump was living in an alternative universe (I said this and he agreed) After the TF meeting (which I attended virtually since Natalie Hurst said there was a crowded field and I should stay at NIH and call in), the VP wanted to chat with me. He kept me on the phone for 25 minutes talking about the meeting that he and Deb had (by zoom) with College and University Presidents including Stanford and UVA among others. The presidents had sound plans for opening up in late August. I agreed with them that they need to test everyone before they come on campus and weed out (temporarily) those that are infected (both symptomatic and symptomatic) to start off with a zero baseline infections. Afdter that, they do surveiilance and indentification/isolation/contact tracing on all new cases. All students with co-morbidities should do classes by virtual. Sounds like a good plan. During the call, the VP said that I was the most visible and trusted asset in the country. Tonight, CNN really played up the "feud" between the POTUS and me. They fed him that I said we should not open schools, when in fact, I said that we would not have a vaccine in time to vaccinate the students (mostly college) for the August/Fall semester. This was in response to a question from Lamar Alexander. In an interview, the press kept asking POTUS about my cautoon in opening the country and my concern about opening the economy. He obviously got annoyed and explicitly criticized me (first time he has done this). That is when CNN went wild and on Erin Burnett, Anderson Cooper, and Don Lemon they had people saying how I was correct and the POTIS was wrong and that they should believe me. I called up Chris Cuomo before his show and told him the truth. He gave a more measured account on his show. Now I know why the VP spent so much time with me on the phone talking about his conversation with the college presidents about opening the colleges. VP is a "good guy". I think he was trying to protect and shield me. I texted Mark Meadows at 8:51 PM to call me to explain, and he never did. Let us see what tomorrow brings. PRESS: See above media blitz about my feud with the POTUS May 14, 2020 - Global - 4,170,000/288,000; USA - 1,380,000/84,000