White House Discussing Plans To Replace HHS Secretary Alex Azar.
BLACKWELL: Well, as the Trump administration faces criticism of its early response to the coronavirus pandemic, an official in the cabinet, his job may be in jeopardy. A senior administration official tells CNN that discussions are happening right now at the White House for a plan to replace the Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar.</s>PAUL: CNN's Sarah Westwood is following the latest for us from the White House. So, Sarah, what do you know about any eminent cabinet shake-up?</s>SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, good morning, Christi. And it's not clear how eminent this move is or even if it will happen. Sources tell CNN that there's not necessarily an appetite for some kind of big staffing shake-up right now in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. But it is clear that Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar has been on thin ice in the Trump administration for a while now. We're hearing that there has been some finger pointing going on directed at Azar about some of the administration's earlier missteps related to handling the response to COVID-19. And also the president was frustrated over the lack of communication from Azar on key health decisions earlier in the response. Now in a sign of perhaps the peril of the position that Azar is in, a long-time Trump loyalist Michael Caputo a former 2016 campaign adviser, was installed as the thus HHS spokesman just a couple week ago. A sign perhaps of the distrust that some Trump loyalists have of Azar and also, of course, at the beginning of all of this Vice President Mike Pence was appointed head of the coronavirus task force a job that Azar had been doing before. Now an HHS spokesperson really down played this in a statement saying Secretary Azar is busy responding to a global public health crisis and doesn't have time for policy intrigue. The White House similarly dismissed this saying that it is a distraction. But, of course, this is all happening against the backdrop of scrutiny of the agency's ouster of its top vaccine expert, Dr. Rick Bright, who is now filing a whistleblower complaint at HHS, Victor and Christi.</s>BLACKWELL: Sarah, the president did a lot of tweeting yesterday but there's one that's getting a lot of attention where he talks about the waste that he sees, these briefings can be. There was no briefing yesterday. What do we know? Is there some announcement coming?</s>WESTWOOD: Well, it's an attitude, Victor, that's shared by many aides and allies who have been pushing the president to stop holding as many briefings. Or hearing that they are viewing them as a sort of diminishing returns coming out of these briefings that the president sometimes allows them to go on too long. And, of course, the episode that we saw on Thursday, the president referring to light and disinfectant inside the body as potential treatments something health experts quickly denounced. As a prime example of the kind of missteps and unforced errors that can occur in that setting, but I want to read you what the president tweeted yesterday. He said, "What is the purpose of having White House News Conferences when the Lamestream Media asks nothing but hostile questions, and then refuses to report the truth or facts accurately. They get record ratings and the American people get nothing but Fake News. Not worth the time and effort." And this comes as CNN is also reporting that the president has been absent from the task force meetings often the precede the briefings and that perhaps the White House is considering cutting back on these briefings, Victor and Christi.</s>BLACKWELL: All right. We'll see what the new week will bring. Sarah Westwood for us there at the White House. Thanks so much. Later this morning, Jake Tapper will be joined by Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response task force coordinator, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Colorado governor Jared Polis, and Stacey Abrams also. That's coming up on "STATE OF THE UNION" right here on CNN at 9:00 eastern.</s>PAUL: So, Dr. Anthony Fauci has a very serious job. He's very stoic but he did crack a smile when he was asked this.</s>ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Which actor would you want to play you? Here are some suggestions, doctor. Ben Stiller, Brad Pitt. Which one?</s>FAUCI: Oh, Brad Pitt of course.</s>PITT: I'm Dr. Anthony Fauci.</s>PAUL: And look at that. What happens last night on SNL? That's one Mr. Brad Pitt and a lot of people saying he nailed it. We've got more of it coming up.