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Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said former President Donald Trump tried to have him downplay the severity of the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 25.6 million people tested positive for COVID-19 in America on Sunday, and more than 429,000 deaths have been attributed to the virus. At the time, Fauci’s usual public contradictions over Trump’s claims about the pandemic drew strong backlash from MAGA supporters, who chanted “fire Fauci!” during electoral rallies.
Now working for President Biden’s administration, Fauci said the New York Times, in an interview published on Sunday, that Trump had urged him to be optimistic – even as things were getting dire.
“I was trying to express the gravity of the situation, and the president’s response was always geared towards, ‘Well, that’s not that bad, is it?’ And I would say, “Yeah, that’s so bad,” “he recalls.
“It was almost a knee-jerk response, trying to convince yourself to downplay it. Not saying, ‘I want you to downplay it,’ but ‘Oh, really, was that so bad?'” Fauci continued.
Alex Wong / Getty
“There were a few times when I would make a statement that was a pessimistic view of where we were going, and the president would call me up and say, ‘Hey, why aren’t you more positive? a positive attitude. Why are you so negative? Be more positive. ‘”
Fauci also expressed concern over how Trump would view the opinions of his co-workers and others on issues related to the pandemic as important information.
“It was clear that he was getting comments from people calling him, I don’t know who, people he knew from the business world, saying, ‘Hey, I heard about this drug, didn’t. isn’t that great? ‘ or, ‘Boy, this recovering plasma is really phenomenal,’ “he said.” He would take their opinion – based on no data, just an anecdote – that something might really matter just as seriously. It wasn’t just hydroxychloroquine, it was a variety of alternative medicine-type approaches. “
Trump adopted the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine to treat the early coronavirus. Last year, he tweeted a controversial claim that the drug is ‘a cure for Covid’. However, its support for the drug, which has unproven effectiveness against the virus, directly contradicts the guidelines of the federal health agency. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned against its use of COVID-19 outside of a hospital or clinical trial, due to the risk of heart rhythm problems.
Fauci said he tried to “calmly explain” to Trump that the drugs needed to be in a clinical trial, but the former president would say, “Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, this stuff really works. “
Newsweek has contacted Trump officials for comment.
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