Trump Adviser Admitted Pandemic Took ‘Back Seat’ to ‘Election Stuff,’ Emails Show

It doesn’t take a very stable genius to work out that Donald Trump became more interested in election conspiracy theories than the deadly pandemic by the end of last year—but now there are emails to prove it. Messages obtained by The Washington Post show Steven Hatfill, a virologist who advised the White House during the COVID-19 pandemic, admitting that Trump’s baseless fraud allegations took up more energy than the coronavirus. Hatfill wrote that “election stuff” became the priority, adding: “Now with the elections so close, COVID is taking a back-seat, yet the disease is rearing it[s] ugly head again.” After Trump’s defeat, Hatfill wrote that he’d been given a new role on an “election fraud investigation,” and, in another exchange a day before the Capitol riot, Hatfill was asked why he wasn’t “fixing the virus.” He replied: “Because the election thing got out of control.” Hatfill defended himself in a statement, saying he served the nation at a time of “extreme crisis... I accepted this call without reservation, and would do so again, regardless of the political affiliation of the Executive Branch.”