A presidential tweet has prompted speculation among media figures online that President Trump is preparing to “fire” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top expert on infectious diseases and one of the key advisers informing the administration’s COVID-19 response. But the White House promptly shut down the rumors in a blistering response to the “ridiculous” claim.
“This media chatter is ridiculous – President Trump is not firing Dr. Fauci,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement Monday, as reported by Axios. “The President’s tweet clearly exposed media attempts to maliciously push a falsehood about his China decision in an attempt to rewrite history. It was Democrats and the media who ignored Coronavirus choosing to focus on impeachment instead, and when they finally did comment on the virus it was to attack President Trump for taking the bold decisive action to save American lives by cutting off travel from China and from Europe. Dr. Fauci has been and remains a trusted advisor to President Trump.”
As The Daily Wire reported, the “ridiculous” controversy all started with Dr. Fauci’s appearance Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” with host Jake Tapper, who repeatedly questioned the expert about the Trump administration’s response to the growing threat of the coronavirus in February. Fauci responded by pushing back on the criticism of the Trump administration while also acknowledging that “obviously” lives could have been saved if social distancing measures were imposed earlier.
Asked if the high number of deaths of people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the U.S. came as a result of implementing measures “too late,” Fauci pushed back on the premise.
“You know, it isn’t as simple as that, Jake, I’m sorry. I disagree,” said the infectious disease expert. “To say this is all happening because we got started too late, obviously, if you look, could we have done something a little bit earlier that would have had an impact? Obviously. But where we are right now is the result of a number of factors: the size of the country; the homogeneity of the country. I think it’s a little bit unfair to compare us to South Korea, where they had an outbreak in Daegu and they had the capability of immediately essentially shutting it off completely in a way that we may not have been able to do in this country. So obviously it would have been nice if we had a better head start, but I don’t think you could say that we are where we are right now because of one factor. It’s very complicated, Jake.”
Many outlets and media and political figures spun that answer as a direct knock on Trump. A former California GOP candidate tweeted: “Fauci is now saying that had Trump listened to the medical experts earlier he could’ve saved more lives. Fauci was telling people on February 29th that there was nothing to worry about and it posed no threat to the US public at large. Time to #FireFauci.”
Trump responded to the post on Sunday, setting of the “fire Fauci” rumors. “Sorry Fake News, it’s all on tape. I banned China long before people spoke up. Thank you [OANN],” Trump tweeted.
Sorry Fake News, it’s all on tape. I banned China long before people spoke up. Thank you @OANN https://t.co/d40JQkUZg5
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2020
While the left-leaning media has repeatedly attempted to drive a wedge between Trump and Fauci, the expert has repeatedly defended the Trump administration’s response to the crisis and has gone on record to specifically defend the president – and criticize the media’s attempts to portray them as at odds.
Asked in late-March about media questions “designed to create a rift between you and the President of the United States,” Fauci replied: “That is really unfortunate. I would wish that that would stop because we have a much bigger problem here than trying to point out differences. There really, fundamentally at the core, when you look at things, there are not differences. The president has listened to what I have said and what the other people on the task force have said. When I have made recommendations he’s taken them; he’s never countered or overridden me; the idea of pitting one against the other is just not helpful. I wish that would stop and we’d look ahead at the challenge we have to pull together to get over this thing.”
Related: Fauci Blasts Media For Trying To Divide Him And Trump, Lauds Trump For Travel Ban