Donald Trump is not getting rid of infectious diseases expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House said Monday in an attempt to defuse speculations that developed over the weekend. The rumors came after Trump retweeted a tweet from a right-wing conservative who called for Dr. Fauci to be fired after he said lives could have been saved if the government had acted more quickly.
However, Hogan Gidley, the White House spokesperson, called the media chatter ”ridiculous,” adding, ”President Trump is not firing Dr. Fauci. Fauci has been and remains a trusted advisor to President Trump.”
”The President’s tweet clearly exposed media attempts to maliciously push a falsehood about his China decision in an attempt to rewrite history,” Gidley said. “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.”
Despite Gidley’s response, some of Trump’s political supporters have criticized Dr. Fauci and questioned if his advice to Trump has contributed to the economy’s downfall.⠀⠀⠀⠀
The incident unfolded on Sunday after Dr. Fauci appeared on CNN and said the Trump administration could have ”saved more lives” if they had acted sooner to initiate social-distancing precautions.
Later Sunday evening, Trump retweeted a tweet from former Republican congressional candidate, DeAnna Lorraine, saying, “Fauci is now saying that had Trump listened to the medical experts earlier he could’ve saved more lives,” Lorraine added. “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…”
Dr. Fauci did make an appearance on the Today show in February and was asked if Americans should be changing their habits, such as ending trips to the gym or mall.
”No, right now, at this moment, there is no need to change anything that you’re doing on a day-by-day basis,” Dr. Fauci continued. “Right now, the risk is still low, but this could change. I’ve said that many times, even on this program…When you start to see community spread, this could change and force you to become much more attentive to doing things that would protect you from the spread.”
During the Sunday appearance on CNN, Dr. Fauci said, “Medical officials had faced political constraints in trying to push for a swift response to the virus. What goes into those decisions is complicated,” Dr. Fauci said. “But obviously, if we had it right from the beginning and shut everything down, it may have been a little bit different. But there was a lot of pushback about shutting things down back then.”
