Tony's Diary Package — page 833

5,200,000/612,000 yv. Asa Hutchinson (R-AK) Got a call today from John Bel Edwards, Governor of Louisiana. He is having the biggest surge of cases of any state in the country right now and he is asking for my support in what he will soon do and that is to put in a mask mandate for all indoor public settings as well As for everyone in the school system which will start today. He asked if I had any further suggestions. I asked if he had ordered a restricted capacity or closing of bars and restaurants and he said that although he would like to do that, he feels that the legislature would rebel against him and take away his emergency powers for public health. And so he wants to get his mask mandate through as his first priority. I agree with him. In addition before we hung up he said that he really admired me and felt badly of what I was going through with the far right attacking me. He said a very nice thing when he said: "you have bigger clowns to deal with than I do; maybe not more clowns, but certainly bigger clowns, but at least you can sleep at night with a clear conscience ". The conspiracy of the far right and the trump loyalists continues. Recently representative Mike McCall the minority On the House Foreign Affairs Committee released a report by the panel's republican staff essentially saying that the lab leak was the cause of COVID-19 and hinting the NIH's role in creating the virus. This is based on no new information or no new data. It is very clear what is going on and it needs to be called out. It is all part of "The Big Lie". First, trump actually won the election; next, January 6th was a friendly visit to the capital book shop; next trump was right and China caused the virus; next Fauci and the NIH helped the Chinese create the virus; next, discredit Fauci and it looks like trump is telling the truth. It is plain and simple a concerted effort aimed at getting trump re-elected and exonerating him from any blame in the complete mess up of his response to COVID-19. Lindsey Graham has contracted COVID-19 period since he is vaccinated he has a mild case. I asked his staff to have him give me a call , which he did and I expressed concern for him and offered to help if I could. He was very grateful for my concern instead we would keep in touch. PRESS: White House pressor; August 3, 2021 - Global - 198,000,000/4,200,000; USA - 35,200,000/612,000 We continue to average about 70,000 cases per day An ironic situation is going on in Florida where Governor DeSantis has a state that has the most infections per day in the country and is still insisting that mask mandates are not allowed at the local level by the schools or by anyone else. In addition, he continues to raise money by slamming me with T shirts as well as by his slogan "don't Fauci my Florida". Besides being a total jerk, he is causing people to die in his home state. Did Governor's call today - Chaired by Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AK) White House has asked me to interview candidates for the position of FDA commissioner. And so today I am interviewing Sudip Parikh whom I knew when he was the staff director for the Senate Appropriations Committee. I was impressed with his interview since he is a very smart and energetic person. I also interviewed James Hildreth who is currently president and CEO of Meharry medical school. I have known Jim for a long time and he is highly qualified.