Anthony Fauci Responds to Donald Trump Tweet: ‘I Have Not Been Misleading the American Public Under Any Circumstances’

Dr. Anthony Fauci has responded to President Donald Trump retweeting a post claiming Fauci “misled the American public on many issues.” During an appearance on Good Morning America, Fauci addressed the tweet by firmly stating, “I have not been misleading the American public under any circumstances.” Notably, The Hill notes that both man have said they have a “very good” relationship, even though in the past Trump has called Fauci “a little bit of an alarmist.”

During his conversation with George Stephanopoulos, Fauci quipped that not only does he not tweet, he doesn’t “even read them.” He continued: “I’m just going to certainly continue doing my job. We’re in the middle of a crisis with regard to an epidemic, a pandemic, this is what I do, this is what I’ve been trained for my entire professional life, and I’ll continue to do it.” While Trump may not be directly criticizing Fauci, the same can’t be said for others in his administration. Earlier in July, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro wrote an op-ed in USA Today that attacked Fauci. The White House later issued a statement on Navarro’s article, saying that he had written it without the administration’s permission. Trump also commented on the op-ep, telling Fox News’s Chris Wallace that Navarro “shouldn’t be doing that.”

Fauci has also not explicitly criticized any of Trump’s decisions regarding the coronavirus response, but during a recent conversation with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, the virus expert shared some very candid thoughts on reopening the country. “You have got to do it correctly,” Fauci said, calling out states that reopened too early and didn’t the correct guidelines, leading to new spikes in cases. “You can’t jump over steps, which is very perilous when you think about rebound. The proof of the pudding is, look what has happened. There really is no reason that we are having 40, 50, 60 thousand, other than we are not doing something correctly.”

Fauci also spoke out about claims from some that wearing a mask in public is dangerous to one’s health. “There has not been any indication that putting a mask on, and wearing a mask for a considerable period of time, has any deleterious effects on oxygen exchange and things like that,” he stated. Fauci later addressed the possibility of a coronavirus vaccine, saying that “we should know, as we get to mid to late fall, whether we have [vaccine] candidates that are safe and effective.”