The White House announced Monday afternoon that despite President Trump retweeting a message that ended with #firefauci, they have no intention of firing Dr. Anthony Fauci from his advisory role to the President.
As the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Fauci has served as a senior advisor to President Trump throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Though in the last several weeks there have been signs that the relationship between the President and his advisor are strained.
A retweet from the President on Sunday appeared to be a further example of souring relations, but on Monday White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said, “This media chatter is ridiculous – President Trump is not firing Dr. Fauci.”
“Dr. Fauci has been and remains a trusted advisor to President Trump,” he added.
Dr. Fauci was asked Sunday by CNN Correspondent Jake Tapper about whether social distancing measures should have been implemented sooner. To which he said, “I mean, obviously, you could logically say that if you had a process that was ongoing and you started mitigation earlier, you could have saved lives.”
Just hours later President Trump retweeted a message that ended with #FireFauci. (RELATED: President Trump At Odds With The World Health Organization)
In a White House Press Briefing Monday, Dr. Fauci tried to clarify his comments from the CNN interview, saying “The president listened to the recommendation and went to the mitigation.” H also said that he used a “poor choice of words” in describing the administration’s hesitancy to enlist the strong social distancing measures.
Trump and Fauci disagree on several issues, such as the importance of maintaining social distancing orders despite the effects of the economy as well as the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug that the President has said actually treats the virus – a comment that Fauci has said is based on “anecdotal evidence.”