Dr. Anthony Fauci is being confronted about President Donald Trump’s recent retweet accusing him of misleading the public amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The nation’s top disease expert was asked during a “Good Morning America” interview on Tuesday morning about tweets Trump reposted that have since been taken down.
Trump promoted more than a dozen tweets on Monday evening, as he published several false claims, including an incorrect claim about a “cure” for COVID-19 that suggested, “You don’t need a mask.” Several tweets that Trump shared ended up being deleted.
Fauci spoke on these claims, saying, “We should all be wearing masks outside,” later adding, “The overwhelming, prevailing clinical trials that have looked at the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine have indicated that it is not effective in coronavirus disease.
The president also retweeted a post from the account WarRoomPandemic that accused Fauci of misleading “the American people on many issues, but particular, on dismissing [hydroxychloroquine] and calling Remdesivir the new gold standard.”
Trump retweets a tweet questioning Fauci’s credibility and saying he “misled the American public on many issues” pic.twitter.com/MjYpmdMAAy
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 28, 2020
In response to Trump’s retweet questioning Fauci’s credibility, Fauci responded, “I don’t know how to address that. I’m just going to certainly continue doing my job.”
“I don’t tweet. I don’t even read them so I don’t really want to go there,” Fauci added. “I just will continue to do my job, no matter what comes out because I think it’s very important, we’re in the middle of a crisis with regard to a … pandemic.”
Asked again for a response to the “charge you’ve been misleading the American public,” Fauci answered, “I have not been misleading the American public under any circumstance.”
See Fauci’s comments below:
.@ABC NEWS EXCLUSIVE: Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks to @GStephanopoulos about his response to Pres. Trump’s tweets, how states can avoid COVID-19 surges and why he is “cautiously optimistic” about a vaccine. https://t.co/JgCvhTifYS pic.twitter.com/BOcoCbyrqa
— Good Morning America (@GMA) July 28, 2020
Trump recently called Fauci “a little bit of an alarmist” but said that he has a “great” relationship with Fauci, as IJR previously reported. This came amid reports of the White House apparently trying to discredit Fauci, to which Trump also said, “We’re not.”
In regard to tweeting, the president recently shared that he “often” wishes he did not tweet something that he posted, as IJR also reported.