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Former Mike Pence advisor reveals she was asked to ‘spy’ on Dr. Birx

Olivia Troye served as Mike Pence’s homeland security advisor and lead staffer on the White House coronavirus task force, and Monday she appeared on “All In With Chris Hayes.” She discussed the mistrust that the Trump administration had for Dr. Deborah Birx, who coordinated the effort to combat the pandemic.
“I'm the person that was brought into a room at some point when she first started,” said Troye. “She was coming into a no-win situation and even more so than I think she even realized. And I was told that I was to watch her. That she was not to be trusted because she was a Matt Pottinger hire.”
Troye had great respect for Dr. Birx and did not appreciate being asked to watch her.
“So here I am as a homeland adviser,” recalled Troye. “And you're asking me to spy on this woman that I'm sharing an office with when the pandemic is about to be out of control.”

Video Transcript

- I'm the person that actually was brought into a room at some point when she first started, and she was coming into a no win situation even more so than, I think, she even realized.

- Olivia Troy served as Mike Pence's Homeland Security Advisor and lead staffer on the White House coronavirus task force. And Monday, she appeared on All In with Chris Hayes, where she discussed the mistrust that the Trump administration had for Dr. Deborah Birx, who coordinated the effort to combat the pandemic.

- I was told that I was to watch her, that she was not to be trusted, because she was a Matt Pottinger hire. So here, I am as Homeland advisor, saying, what? You're asking me to spy on this woman that I'm sharing an office with, who is on our team, when we know that this pandemic is about to be out of control?

- Dr. Birx appeared on face the nation in a rare interview Sunday, where she claimed President Trump publicized charts and graphs that she and her team did not create. And on Monday, Troy corroborated her story.

- I remember that day, because Dr. Birx was really angry. And she actually confronted me and said, do you know who created those graphs? Did you work on that? And I said, well, you know that there has been an effort to manipulate the data to downplay this virus.

- And even though Dr. Birx was forced to work in a no win situation, Troy was glad she finally had an opportunity to share her side of the story.

- I'm glad to see her finally be somewhat free, and coming forward, and speaking candidly. Do I wish that she would have been-- I had hoped that she would have been more blunt in her interview. But I also know that is not really her style. She doesn't speak publicly. She doesn't talk to the media. That's just not who she is.