President Donald Trump is blasting Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force.
The president took aim at Fauci in a Tuesday morning tweet, suggesting, “Actually, Tony’s pitching arm is far more accurate than his prognostications.”
Fauci — the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — threw out the first pitch at the Washington Nationals opening day game in July, but the moment went viral after the pitch did not go as expected.
Dr. Anthony Fauci threw out the first pitch before the Nationals-Yankees game. pic.twitter.com/04Tbkh7Voa
— ESPN (@espn) July 23, 2020
Trump continued in his tweet, “No problem, no masks.’ WHO no longer likes Lockdowns – just came out against. Trump was right. We saved 2,000,000 USA lives!!!”
Actually, Tony’s pitching arm is far more accurate than his prognostications. “No problem, no masks”. WHO no longer likes Lockdowns – just came out against. Trump was right. We saved 2,000,000 USA lives!!! https://t.co/YyLyCsbZ7a
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2020
The president’s remarks came shortly after Fauci spoke out about being featured in a campaign advertisement for Trump, as IJR reported on.
“In my nearly five decades of public service, I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate,” Fauci said, adding, “The comments attributed to me without my permission in the GOP campaign ad were taken out of context from a broad statement I made months ago about the efforts of federal public health officials.”
Regarding reports he will be featured in another campaign ad, Fauci said on Monday during a CNN interview, “You know that would be terrible. I mean, that would be outrageous if they do that. In fact, that might actually come back to backfire on them. I hope they don’t do that.”
He also said he thought the original ad should be taken down, calling it “really unfortunate and really disappointing that they did that.”