Dr. Fauci Vents on Trump’s False Coronavirus Statements: ‘I Can’t Jump In Front of the Microphone and Push Him Down’
Dr. Anthony Fauci has established himself over the last few weeks as a leading member of the White House’s anti-coronavirus task force, but in a new interview, he outlined multiple points of disagreement with President Donald Trump’s conduct throughout the pandemic.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director spoke to Science Magazine recently, and it started with him laughing about how “I haven’t been fired.” Fauci insisted that Trump “does listen to what I say” in terms of substance, though the conversation continued to gravitate around his disputes with various statements from the White House’s briefings on COVID-19.
“I don’t disagree in the substance,” Fauci said. “It is expressed in a way that I would not express it, because it could lead to some misunderstanding about what the facts are about a given subject.”
Fauci went on to say “I know” Trump has made false statements on the virus’ spread from China, though he rhetorically asked “what do you want me to do” about that. Fauci also offered this broader statement about every factually-inaccurate statement made in his presence from the White House Briefing Room:
“The way it happened is that after he made that statement [suggesting China could have revealed the discovery of a new coronavirus three to four months earlier], I told the appropriate people, it doesn’t comport, because two or three months earlier would have been September. The next time they sit down with him and talk about what he’s going to say, they will say, by the way, Mr. President, be careful about this and don’t say that. But I can’t jump in front of the microphone and push him down. OK, he said it. Let’s try and get it corrected for the next time.”
The interview continued with Fauci saying he would never refer to COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus,” and he refused to comment on how he facepalmed days ago when Trump referred to the State Department as the “deep State Department.”
