Dr. Anthony Fauci is detailing the experience he had with President Donald Trump during the onset of the coronavirus pandemic amid reports of Trump downplaying the severity of the outbreak.
Fox News’ John Roberts asked Fauci on Wednesday if he got a sense Trump was or was not playing the pandemic down.
“No I didn’t. I didn’t get any sense that he was distorting anything,” Fauci said.
He added, “In my discussions with him, they were always straightforward about the concerns that we had. We related that to him and when he would go out, and I’d hear him discussing the same sort of things.”
Check out his comments below:
Dr. Fauci says that he never got the sense that President Trump was downplaying COVID-19:
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 9, 2020
"I didn't get any sense that he was distorting anything. In my discussions with him, they were always straightforward about the concerns that we had." pic.twitter.com/2zQ4tMZY2I
According to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward’s new book “Rage,” Trump told him in a February phone call the coronavirus was “deadly stuff,” as IJR previously reported.
In a March phone call to Woodward, Trump said, “I wanted to always play it down.”
Fauci stressed Trump did not contradict coronavirus task force members when he took to the podium during his press briefings.
“He really didn’t say anything different than we discussed when we were with him,” Fauci said.
He continued, “So I may not be tuned in to the right thing that they’re talking about, but I really didn’t see any discrepancies between what he told us and what we told him and what he ultimately came out publicly and said.”
Trump received harsh criticism for his comments from Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, as IJR previously reported.
During an event in Michigan on Wednesday Biden said, “He knowingly and willingly lied about the threat it posed to the country for months.”
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany sparred with a reporter during her press briefing on Wednesday and told her Trump “has never lied to the American public” about the coronavirus.