Former President Barack Obama is responding to President Donald Trump suggestion that he may fire the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, if he wins a second term.
Speaking to at a rally for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in Atlanta, Georgia, on Monday, Obama said, “One of the few people in this administration who’s been taking this seriously all along and what’d he say? His second term plan is to fire that guy.”
“They’ve already said they’re not going to contain the pandemic. Now they want to fire the one person who can actually help them contain the pandemic,” he continued.
Finally, he said, “So Georgia, if you think they’ve done a bad job at managing COVID so far, basically what they’re telling you now is you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Watch the video below:
#BREAKING: President Obama rips President Trump for suggesting he'll fire Dr. Fauci: "Don't boo — vote!" pic.twitter.com/xT60g9c2at
— The Hill (@thehill) November 2, 2020
During a rally on Sunday, Trump supporters began to chant, “Fire Fauci.”
The president responded, “Don’t tell anybody, but let me wait until a little bit after the election. I appreciate the advice.”
His comments come days after Fauci told The Washington Post that the country “could not possibly be positioned more poorly” to handle the COVID-19 pandemic as the weather gets worse.
“We’re in for a whole lot of hurt. It’s not a good situation,” he said, adding, “All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors. You could not possibly be positioned more poorly.”
White House spokesman Judd Deere told CNN, “It’s unacceptable and breaking with all norms for Dr. Fauci, a senior member of the President’s Coronavirus Taskforce and someone who has praised President (Donald) Trump’s actions throughout this pandemic, to choose three days before an election to play politics.”