Trump calls Dr Fauci ‘a little bit of an alarmist’ but defends their ‘very good relationship’

President Donald Trump called Dr Anthony Fauci ‘a little bit of an alarmist’ as the nation’s top infectious disease expert continues to urge officials to strengthen health safety measures while the coronavirus pandemic rages on.  

Trump defended his relationship with Fauci during a Fox News interview on Sunday where he dismissed rumors that his administration is running a campaign against the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace asked the president to respond to a Facebook post from White House deputy chief of staff for communications Daniel Scavino which showed Fauci as a faucet and branded him a ‘leaker’ and an ‘alarmist’. 

‘Well, I don’t know that he’s a leaker. He’s a little bit of an alarmist,’ Trump replied.  ‘That’s okay. A little bit of an alarmist.’

‘Dr Fauci’s made some mistakes, but I have a very good – I spoke to him yesterday at length – I have a very good relationship with Dr Fauci,’ he added. 

President Donald Trump called Dr Anthony Fauci ‘a little bit of an alarmist’ during a Fox News interview on Sunday as the nation’s top infectious disease expert continues to urge officials to strengthen health safety measures while the coronavirus pandemic rages on

Trump went on to list several of the ‘mistakes’ he said Fauci had made since the pandemic began in March.

‘Dr Fauci at the beginning said: “This will pass. Don’t worry about it. This will pass.” He was wrong,’ he said. 

‘Dr Fauci said: “Don’t ban China. Don’t ban China.” I did. He then admitted that I was right.’ 

The president also claimed that Fauci had flipped his stance on masks, citing how in the early stages of the crisis he urged the public not to go out and buy N95 masks because they were in short supply and were needed by health professionals. 

He then noted that in recent weeks Fauci has strongly advocated the need for everyone to be wearing face coverings – something the Trump administration has not mandated at the federal level. 

Trump himself has repeatedly refused to wear a mask in public, and many of his supporters have followed his lead. 

Last week Fauci recommended that governors and mayors ‘be as forceful as possible’ in getting people to wear face coverings. 

Wallace pressed Trump by asking: ‘Why on earth would your administration be involved in a campaign at this point to discredit Dr Fauci?’ – to which he immediately replied: ‘Because we’re not.’

Trump insisted that his administration is not running a smear campaign to discredit Fauci. The pair are pictured at a White House coronavirus briefing back in April

As of Sunday more than 3.7 million coronavirus cases have been reported across the US, with infections on the rise in 42 out of 50 states

Deaths from coronavirus also appear to be increasing in recent weeks after holding steady

Fauci has previously criticized what he views as White House attacks against him – calling them ‘bizarre’ and arguing that they’re damaging only to Trump. 

‘I cannot figure out in my wildest dreams why they would want to do that,’ Fauci told The Atlantic last week. ‘I think they realize now that that was not a prudent thing to do, because it’s only reflecting negatively on them.

‘Ultimately, it hurts the president to do that. When the staff lets out something like that and the entire scientific and press community push back on it, it ultimately hurts the president.’

One of the most brazen attacks was a USA Today op-ed in which Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro said Fauci is wrong about ‘everything’ he’s interacted with him about. 

On Sunday Trump told Wallace that Navarro ‘shouldn’t be doing that’.  

Wallace also made a point to remind Trump that he has also made mistakes with his response to the coronavirus crisis, to which the president replied: ‘I guess everybody makes mistakes.’

Asked about his previous claim that the virus is ‘going to sort of just disappear’, Trump said: ‘I’ll be right eventually.’ 

As of Sunday more than 3.7 million coronavirus cases and 140,119 deaths have been recorded nationwide. 

Cases have continued to rise in 42 out of 50 states over the past two weeks, with Texas, California, Florida and others across the Sun Belt shattering records each day.