Donald Trump Suggests Anthony Fauci Is an 'Idiot' After Fauci's '60 Minutes' Interview

Donald Trump reportedly called Dr. Anthony Fauci an "idiot," following Fauci's recent 60 Minutes interview wherein the nation's foremost infectious disease expert dismissed coronavirus claims made by Trump. According to The New York Times, Trump made the condescending comments during a staff conference call. "People are tired of Covid," Trump complained, then adding, "People are tired of hearing Fauci and these idiots, all these idiots who got it wrong."

Trump also said that even though Fauci is a"nice" guy, he also finds him to be a "disaster" as well. "He's been here for 500 years," Trump continued. "Every time he goes on television, there's always a bomb, but there's a bigger bomb if you fire him. This guy's a disaster." Trump's alleged comments come after Fauci's Sunday night appearance on the CBS News show 60 Minutes, where the doctor states that he had been concerned for the president's safety prior to his coronavirus diagnosis.

President Trump attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease specialist, as a “disaster,” and said that people were “tired of” the coronavirus and want to be left “alone,” during a call with campaign staff on Monday.https://t.co/kWqn3ddskf

— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 19, 2020

"I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask," Fauci said. "When I saw that on TV, I said, 'Oh my goodness. Nothing good can come out of that, that's got to be a problem.' And then sure enough, it turned out to be a superspreader event."

Regarding Trump's comment that Fauci, and others, "got it wrong" with COVID-19, he may be referring to an interview from March when Fauci stated that he did not believe that wearing masks was a necessary part of the coronavirus battle. He has since changed his position, and he addressed it by explaining himself. "Let's see if we could put this to rest once and for all. It became clear that cloth covering things like this here, and not necessarily a surgical mask or an N95, cloth coverings, work."

Fauci continued, "Now there's no longer a shortage of masks. Number two, meta-analysis studies show that, contrary to what we thought, masks really do work in preventing infection." For many months now, Fauci has been fervently and openly supporting the use of masks to help slow the spread of COVID-19.