Trump retweets call to fire Fauci amid coronavirus criticism
CNNWashington CNN — President Donald Trump fueled more speculation about the future of Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday, retweeting a conservative who called for the top infectious disease specialist to be fired after he said in a CNN interview more could have been done to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Trump said his retweet doesn’t matter, and the tweet was “somebody’s opinion.” The President said he did notice the “fire Fauci” hashtag before he retweeted it. “He’s been fretting about Fauci for a while,” the source said of Trump’s focus on the popular public health expert, summing up Trump’s comments about the doctor as “why isn’t Fauci saying nice things about me?” But Trump has also wavered on Azar, who has been the subject of speculation for weeks after he was sidelined from leading the coronavirus task force. The tweet retweeted by Trump suggested that Fauci mistakenly downplayed the initial threat of coronavirus to the US in late February when he said the “country as a whole … still remains at low risk,” though the infectious disease expert was referring specifically to an outbreak in Washington state and qualified that “this is an evolving situation.” Fauci did, however, tell radio host John Catsimatidis in late January that coronavirus “isn’t something the American public needs to worry about or be frightened about,” adding, “because we have ways of preparing and screening” those coming from countries impacted by the virus. Limbaugh, the conservative radio host whom Trump awarded a surprise Medal of Freedom during this year’s State of the Union address, called Fauci a “Clinton sympathizer” on his program last week.