As President Donald Trump and his coronavirus task force appear before the nation for daily briefings, there have been reports that the president is making untrue comments to the country.
One of the more circulated of those mistruths is the president’s statement that “anybody who wants a test can get a test,” as he told reporters on March 6.
In an interview with Science Magazine, Dr. Anthony Fauci — who serves as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — spoke about what it is like to be beside the president as he speaks to the nation.
Asked what he is able to do while Trump makes remarks that “aren’t true and aren’t factual,” — like suggesting that China knew about the coronavirus in September — Fauci said, “The next time [Trump’s aides] sit down with him and talk about what he’s going to say, they will say, ‘By the way, Mr. President, be careful about this and don’t say that.’”
He continued, “But I can’t jump in front of the microphone and push him down. OK, he said it. Let’s try and get it corrected for the next time.”
Fauci also told Science Magazine that he will never call the coronavirus the “China Virus”, as Trump has repeatedly done.
I only signed the Defense Production Act to combat the Chinese Virus should we need to invoke it in a worst case scenario in the future. Hopefully there will be no need, but we are all in this TOGETHER!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2020
Fauci also revealed the preparation stage for the daily press conferences, explaining what happens before the coronavirus task force goes in front of the press:
“We sit down for an hour and a half, go over all the issues on the agenda. And then we proceed from there to an anteroom right in front of the Oval Office to talk about what are going to be the messages, what are the kind of things we’re going to want to emphasize? Then we go in to see the president, we present [our consensus] to him and somebody writes a speech. Then he gets up and ad libs on his speech. And then we’re up there to try and answer questions.”
Additionally, Fauci was asked how he has managed to not get fired, to which he responded, “Even though we disagree on some things, he listens. He goes his own way. He has his own style. But on substantive issues, he does listen to what I say.”