Fauci’s star rises as relationship with Biden deepens

During a meeting last Friday evening in the Oval Office, it was Fauci, Biden’s chief medical adviser, who walked the president through a policy drafted by experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It wasn’t that Biden didn’t trust the CDC or its director, Rochelle Walensky, or value their input. But as with other major policy announcements, the president turned to his old friend Fauci for a rundown.

The straight-talking infectious disease expert has developed an increasingly close relationship with the president, who now leans on Fauci more than any other health official to guide his pandemic response, according to three senior officials with knowledge of Biden’s thinking. Through dinners and White House conversations, the pair has built on a connection that began early in the Obama administration, during the scramble to respond to the H1N1 swine flu pandemic…

In the meantime, Fauci’s ascension from his longtime post leading the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has left newer health officials such as Walensky playing catch up. While she and other senior health experts are included in conversations with the president about the state of the pandemic, Fauci often takes the lead — deferring to the CDC director for specifics on topics such as testing or the genetic sequencing of virus variants, according to the three people familiar with the meetings.