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He clearly did not believe that was the case on Monday. He stepped onto the podium armed with a video intended to frame his response positively after his initial handling of the crisis has come under increasing scrutiny.
After it aired, Trump became increasingly enraged as journalists investigated the timeline for his response, alleging that the criticism was unfair and that he had effectively handled the outbreak.
“Everything we did was fine,” Trump insisted after a lengthy tirade against negative coverage.
Later pressured about his authority to reopen parts of the country, Trump issued a surprising statement asserting absolute control over the country.
“When someone is president of the United States, their authority is total,” he said. He later added that he would issue reports supporting his claim, which legal experts say is not backed by the Constitution.
Fauci said he was answering a “hypothetical question” during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” show on Sunday when he said more could have been done to save American lives. He stated that his response “was taken as a way that perhaps somehow it was to blame here” and said his comment about “rejection” within the administration of some of his recommendations was a poor choice of words.
The episode capped a stretch where Fauci’s position in the administration seemed tenuous. Trump on Sunday afternoon retweeted a critical message of Fauci’s comments on CNN along with the hashtag #FireFauci.
Trump ignored the retweet on Monday: “I retweeted someone,” he said, “it doesn’t matter,” but many of Trump’s allies in the conservative media have fueled calls for Fauci’s expulsion, describing him as too focused on aspects. health from the coronavirus crisis and out of tune with the economic suffering of Americans.
Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, admitted to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday morning that previous mitigation efforts could have saved more lives and again called for a cautious reopening of the nation, despite calls from Trump to quickly restart the economy.
“I could logically say that if I had an ongoing process and started mitigation earlier, it could have saved lives,” Fauci said.
But a day later, he tried to characterize that comment as hypothetical and not about specific actions that could or should have been taken before Trump announced recommendations for social distancing last month.
Fauci said there were discussions among the “medical people” about the pros and cons of the strong mitigation efforts, but when he and Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, finally recommended the efforts of mitigation to the President for the last time. month, Trump listened.
“The first and only time that Dr. Birx and I came in and made a formal recommendation to the President that there really be a ‘closure’ in the sense of not really closing, but to have strong mitigation, we discussed it,” Fauci said. He said. “Obviously, there will be concerns from some and, in fact, that could have some negative consequences. However, the President listened to the recommendation and addressed mitigation.”
Fauci added that when he and Birx realized that the initial 15-day guidelines were not enough and would have to be extended, Trump also heard that recommendation.
“The second time I went with Dr. Birx to the President and said that 15 days is not enough, we have to spend 30 days, obviously there were people who had a problem with that, due to possible side effects, however, in that At the time, the President followed the health recommendations and we extended it for another 30 days, “Fauci said.
Fauci’s attempts to clarify his earlier comments reflected an attempt to quell speculation that he was on shaky terms with the President, who has been pressured by some wealthy friends and economic advisers to quickly reopen parts of the economy.
Trump spent part of the Easter weekend calling allies and associates complaining about recent media coverage of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, people familiar with the talks said.
Trump believes “everyone is trying to look good,” said a source, who said the president has become obsessed with two government officials at the center of the response: Fauci and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. .
“He’s been concerned about Fauci for a while,” the source said of Trump’s approach to the popular public health expert, summing up Trump’s comments on the doctor as “why doesn’t Fauci say good things about me?”
CNN’s Jim Acosta contributed to this report.
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