Joe Biden has been president for less than 36 hours but administration employees—the few who stayed on after Donald Trump got on a plane bound for Palm Beach—are already getting used to a new way of life. For the White House kitchen staff, that probably means not having to hide vegetables in the president‘s food just to get him to eat something of nutritional value. For the people working the West Wing switchboard, it probably means not having to constantly tell Don Jr. his father can’t talk and yes, they know he’s been trying every day for months. And for Dr. Anthony Fauci, it means not having to work for a colossal moron who lies about everything all the time and expects others to do the same, even and including instructing the public to consider free-basing bleach. 

Speaking to the White House press corps on Thursday, an exuberant Fauci, who’d been sidelined by Trump for months, said it was downright freeing to work for someone who actually wants him to tell the nation the truth about the pandemic, and not just pretend it’s going to “miraculously” go away. “I can tell you I take no pleasure at all in being in a situation of contradicting the president, so it was really something that you didn’t feel you could actually say something and there wouldn’t be any repercussions about it,” he said. “The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know, what the evidence and science is, and know that’s it—let the science speak—it is somewhat of a liberating feeling.”

Fauci became something of a national hero early on in the pandemic when it became clear that he was one of the few—only?—officials in the federal government not comfortable with standing up during the daily coronavirus briefing and lying through his teeth. Naturally, that put him in Trump’s crosshairs, particularly when the good doctor expressed skepticism about hydroxychloroquine, which Trump was hyping as a miracle cure, or suggesting people inject household cleaner into their veins. As a reminder, this was Fauci’s face for most of the time he was forced to stand next to the president while he offered such medical advice.

On Thursday, Fauci said “it was very clear that there were things that were said regarding things like hydroxychloroquine and other things like that, that was uncomfortable because they were not based on scientific fact,” adding that his willingness to contradict Trump was “why I got in trouble sometimes,” though he has no fears whatsoever about being sidelined for speaking his mind under Biden. “One of the things that was very clear as recently as about 15 minutes ago when I was with the president, is that one of the things we’re going to do is to be completely transparent, open, and honest,” he said. “If things go wrong, not point fingers but to correct them, and to make everything we do be based on science and evidence. That was literally a conversation I had 15 minutes ago with the president, and he has said that multiple times.” At another point, asked if it would have been helpful if Amazon had gotten involved in the government’s COVID-19 response, Fauci replied: “No, I don’t think I could answer that question. One of the new things in this administration is if you don’t know the answer, don’t guess, just say you don’t know the answer.”

When a reporter claimed Fauci had “joked a couple times” about what an amazing difference it was to go from working for the 45th president to the 46th, the doctor made it clear that he was completely serious and that the last year had been hell on earth and that he. “You said I was joking about it. I was very serious. I wasn’t joking,” he said.

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Lindsey Graham previews his bullshit explanation for voting to acquit Trump

Surprise: Trump’s pardons were full of lies

Easily fact-checked lies that fell apart the second reporters at the L.A. Times started asking questions: 

Federal prosecutors had accused Robert Zangrillo, a Miami developer, of a costly and criminal effort to secure his daughter’s entry to USC…. A trial was scheduled for later this year in Boston on charges related to fraud, bribery, and money laundering. Yet in the final hours of his presidency on Wednesday, Donald Trump extended a merciful hand toward the wealthy Florida investor and issued a “full pardon” that appeared to put an end to the prosecution.

The White House said the pardon was backed by several businesspeople, including L.A. developer Geoff Palmer, but also investor Thomas J. Barrack, a USC alumnus and a university trustee, which drew shock at the campus and beyond. Barrack, a longtime friend of Trump who also chaired his inauguration committee, denied playing any role…. And Sean Parker, the tech billionaire and Napster founder, denied playing any role in Zangrillo’s case, despite the White House including him among the supporters. “Sean doesn’t know [Zangrillo] and did not make any request for a pardon on his behalf,” Parker’s spokesman said.

As for the Trump administration’s claim Amber Zangrillo was a model student “currently earning” a 3.9 grade point average at USC? A university spokesperson told the L.A. Times that she was, wait for it, not even presently enrolled there. 

The Diet Coke button has left the White House

This is actually the one thing we’re sort of sad to see go.

Elsewhere!

Pelosi “ready” to send Trump impeachment article but needs answers about Senate trial (ABC News)

Senate Democrats file ethics complaint against Hawley, Cruz over election challenge (Politico)

Biden’s solicitor general will play critical role in early efforts to undo Trump policies (CNN)

11 false claims Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has tweeted in the last month (CNN)

Judge refuses to force Amazon to put Parler back online (CNBC)

Why Are Conservatives So Angry Biden Denounced White Supremacy? (Intelligencer)

Trump hires South Carolina lawyer Bowers for impeachment defense (Reuters)

How the American Unemployment System Failed (NYT)

Citigroup Shrinks Gender Wage Gap a Smidge, to 26% From 27% (Bloomberg)

“In Vermont, we dress warm—we know something about the cold, and we’re not so concerned about good fashion. We want to keep warm, and that’s what I did” (NYP) 

— Jared and Ivanka’s Final Chapter in Washington Demolished Their Future
— After a Day of Violence, Trump’s Allies Are Jumping Ship
— The Unbearable Whiteness of Storming the Capitol
— Gary Cohn Is a Test Case for Trying to Wash Off the Trump Stink
— The Deeply Unsettling, Not Entirely Surprising Images of Trump’s Capitol Hill Mob
— Twitter Finally Muzzling Trump Is Too Little, Too Late
— The Eerie Charlottesville Echoes of Trump Supporters’ Capitol Coup
— From the Archive: Inside the Cult of Trump, His Rallies Are Church and He Is the Gospel

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