Frieden Refuses To Say if White House Told Him To Rule out Travel Ban

 SCALISE: “Have you all had any conversations within the White House about a travel ban and whether or not the president has the authority — because many of us have said the president does have the authority to do it today?”

FRIEDEN: “From the point of view of CDC, we’re willing to consider anything that would reduce the risk of Ebola —” [crosstalk]

SCALISE: “But have you considered that? And have you ruled it out, or have you not considered it at all? Have you had conversations with the White House about a travel ban?”

FRIEDEN: “We’ve —” [crosstalk]

SCALISE: “That’s a yes or no question. Have you had conversations with the White House about a travel ban?”

FRIEDEN: “We’ve discussed many aspects —” [crosstalk]

SCALISE: “About that — how about a travel ban? Have you had that conversation with —" [crosstalk]

FRIEDEN: “We’ve had discussions on the issue of travel to and from West Africa.”

SCALISE: “And have you all ruled it out?”

FRIEDEN: “Um — I can’t speak for the White House. I can tell you —”

SCALISE: “You can speak for the CDC. If you were in those conversations — maybe they had their own conversations without you — but if you were involved in conversations with the White House about the travel ban, did they ruled it out? Are they still considering it?”

FRIEDEN: “From the CDC’s perspective we’ll consider anything that will better protect —”

SCALISE: “So are you going to answer the question about your conversations with the White House?"

FRIEDEN: “Um — we’ve —” [crosstalk]

SCALISE: “Is the White House considering a travel ban?”

FRIEDEN: “I can’t speak for the White House.”

SCALISE: “Do you know if they ruled out a travel ban?”

FRIEDEN: “I can’t speak for the White —” 

SCALISE: “Have you had conversations with them about it?”

FRIEDEN: “We’ve discussed the issue of travel.”

SCALISE: “All right. I would urge you — at a minimum — if you’ve ruled out a travel ban, if you don’t think it’s the right way to go, there are a lot of people who would disagree with you, at a minimum, you ought to look at least immediately suspending visas to non-U.S. nationals seeking to travel into the United States from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. Have you all considered that or discussed it or ruled it out?”