President Trump told reporters Tuesday that he won't let Anthony Fauci testify before the House of Representatives because it's "a setup" with a "bunch of Trump haters."
Driving the news: The White House told the House on Monday that members of the administration's coronavirus task force won't be allowed to testify in May, claiming that it would divert resources from the pandemic response. Trump said Tuesday Fauci will instead be testifying in front of the Senate.
Flashback: Fauci testified in March that the current system of making coronavirus testing available in the U.S. was not set up in a way that it needed it to be, calling it a "failing."
The big picture: The House has established a select committee to conduct oversight over the Trump administration's coronavirus response. Speaker Nancy Pelosi attacked the White House's decision to block members of the coronavirus task force from testifying on Monday, claiming that the administration "might be afraid of the truth."
What he's saying:
"They put every Trump hater on the committee — the same old stuff. They frankly want our situation to be unsuccessful, which means death, and our situation's going to be very successful. The House has put on a committee, an oversight committee, of Maxine Waters and [Carolyn] Maloney and the same people, and it's just a setup. But Dr. Fauci will be testifying in front of the Senate, and he looks forward to doing that. But the House I will tell you, the House should be ashamed of themselves. And frankly, the Democrats should be ashamed, because they don't want us to succeed. They want us to fail so they can win an election."— Trump to reporters