Health

‘All Of Them, With One Exception’: Fauci Takes Shot At Trump When Asked About Favorite President

(Screenshot/Public/Washington Post)

Dylan Housman Deputy News Editor
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Dr. Anthony Fauci took a parting shot at former President Donald Trump during a Thursday “exit interview” with The Washington Post.

A reporter asked Fauci if he had a favorite president to work with during his decades-long career working in the federal government, acknowledging he likely couldn’t answer the question. Fauci refused to answer directly, but made it clear that his least favorite president to serve under was Trump.

“No, I obviously can’t answer that. I’ve had wonderful times and great experiences with several of them, in fact all of them, with one exception,” Fauci said. “The presidents we’ve had have been people of high integrity, and I’ve enjoyed working with them.”

Fauci has repeatedly criticized Trump since the latter left office in January 2021. He recently blamed Trump and other Republicans for inciting death threats against himself and his family, and has said that it was difficult for him to correct his boss’s “misinformation” being spread from the White House podium.

Fauci’s comments since Trump left the White House are a far cry from what he said about the former president at the time Trump was in charge. Once upon a time, in the spring of 2020, Fauci defended Trump against media attacks, saying the president took COVID-19 seriously “from the beginning” and praising Trump for following his recommendations.

More recently, before he announced he would retire from government service at the end of 2022, Fauci said he would resign if Trump were re-elected rather than work for him again. (RELATED: ‘Wild West’: New Emails Reveal Fauci, NIH Officials Considered Warning FBI About Potential Lab Leak)

Despite his plans to leave his post as Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and top medical advisor to President Joe Biden at the end of 2022, Republican lawmakers have promised to launch investigations into Fauci in the next Congress, including into his involvement with the country’s COVID-19 response and the possible origins of the virus in Wuhan, China.