Fauci And Alyssa Farah Griffin Recall Trying to Convince Trump to Wear a Mask By Telling Him He ‘Looked Cool’

Zachary LeemanJun 20th, 2024, 12:47 pm
 

The View’s Alyssa Farah Griffin recalled during a catch up with Dr. Anthony Fauci trying to convince then-President Donald Trump to mask up during the Covid pandemic by saying he “looked cool” with one on.

Fauci joined the hosts of The View on Thursday to promote his new book On Call, which details his work as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for decades, including during the pandemic. The hosts gushed over Fauci with Whoopi Goldberg calling him “one of the classiest” figures she’d ever seen in Washington D.C.

Fauci detailed from frictions with the former president during the pandemic, including on masking.

“It was very painful for me. I have a great deal of respect for the presidency of the United States of America. I’ve served seven presidents so it wasn’t like, ‘wow, isn’t this cool that I’m contradicting the president,’ it was very, very painful, but I had to do it,” Fauci said.

The disease expert claimed Trump had a “missed opportunity” to better promote the recommendation of masking to his “millions and millions of followers.”

“He has millions and millions of followers who are very loyal to him. All he had to do was say the CDC is recommending masks, we know it’s going to save lives, do it,'” he said.

Griffin, who worked in the Trump administration at the time, recalled trying to convince Trump to better promote masks by telling him he “looked cool” in one.

“I remember telling him he looked cool in the mask,” Griffin said to laughter.

“I remember, yeah!” Fauci said.

“I thought might he might be like, ‘okay, fine, I’ll wear it.’ It didn’t work,” Griffin said.

“Nice try, Alyssa,” Fauci offered.

Trump tweeted a picture of himself in a mask in July 2020, calling it “patriotic” and declaring there is no one “more patriotic” than him. During the April press conference that Fauci referenced on Thursday, Trump had declared that he would not be following the advice of health experts by wearing a mask.

Watch above via ABC.

Tags:
Zachary Leeman

Zachary Leeman covered pop culture and politics at outlets such as Breitbart, LifeZette, BizPac Review, HollywoodinToto, and others. He is the author of the novel Nigh. He joined Mediaite in 2022.