Dr. Fauci Calls Out Media for Trying To Drive a Wedge Between Him and Trump: 'Not Helpful'
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he wishes the media would stop “pitting” himself and President Donald Trump against each other.
In an interview with WMAL-FM’s “Mornings on the Mall,” host Vince Coglianese asked Fauci if he thinks the media are trying to emphasize the differences of opinion of the president and the leaders of the White House coronavirus task force.
“That is really unfortunate,” Fauci replied. “I would wish 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.”
He added that the president has listened to and taken the advice of Fauci and the other experts on the task force without overriding them.
“The idea of just pitting one against the other is just not helpful. I wish that would stop and we would look at the head at the challenge we have to pull together to get over this thing,” Fauci said.
In an interview Monday on Fox News with Mark Levin, Fauci said Trump “asks a lot of questions” and heeds the scientific advice of the task force.
During a White House briefing on the coronavirus Saturday, a viral video showed Fauci’s reaction to a joke the president slipped into his briefing, which led to many people suggesting he was putting his hand over his face in shame.
Fauci’s face says it all. pic.twitter.com/SUBpWN6H5D
— Justin Fishel (@JustinFishelABC) March 20, 2020
#FauciFacepalm Pass it on. pic.twitter.com/FiWUizk6lN
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) March 21, 2020
The notion that there were some disagreements between Fauci and the president was also brought up in an interview with Science Magazine published Sunday.
The interviewer, Jon Cohen, asked Fauci about the task to help ensure Trump’s remarks about COVID-19 are accurate, and Fauci said it was a challenge.
“I can’t jump in front of the microphone and push him down,” Fauci said. “OK, he said it. Let’s try and get it corrected for the next time.”
The New York Times reported Monday that White House aides said the president’s patience with Fauci has grown thin.
Trump has said that he and the doctors on his team do not agree on every point of discussion.
“If it were up to the doctors, they may say, ‘Let’s keep it shut down. Let’s shut down the entire world,'” the president said at Monday’s news briefing.
He added that Fauci didn’t agree with his belief that the economy needs to be reopened soon.
“He understands there’s a tremendous cost to our country, both in terms of lives and in terms of economics,” Trump said.
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