WASHINGTON — Monday, as President Donald Trump embarked upon a packed day of rallies in Arizona, he made it a point to call the nation's top infectious disease expert a "disaster" in front of his campaign staffers.
Trump has made no secret of his growing impatience with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert who is also still a part of his administration.
As Trump bucks up his campaign staffers 15 days from Election Day, public and private polling showing Democratic opponent Joe Biden with a widening lead has the president going on the defensive. On a conference call, Trump reportedly said, “We’re going to win. I wouldn’t have told you that maybe two or three weeks ago.”
The president then went on to say that people are tired of hearing from Fauci “and all these idiots” about the coronavirus.
Speaking Monday to campaign staffers, Trump called Fauci a “disaster” but said he’d create bigger issues for himself if he fired the doctor.
Fauci is head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and is a member of the White House coronavirus task force. Trump has needled Fauci over his advice on wearing face masks.
Shortly after the president's remarks, retiring Sen. Lamar Alexander (R - Tenn.) defended Fauci's long record of public health service.
"Dr. Fauci is one of our country’s most distinguished public servants. He has served 6 presidents, starting with Ronald Reagan. If more Americans paid attention to his advice, we’d have fewer cases of COVID-19, and it would be safer to go back to school & back to work & out to eat," he said.
A White House event in the Rose Garden for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett came just before multiple individuals in the administration tested positive for COVID-19.
Fauci said he was "absolutely not" surprised that people became infected after that large gathering where multiple people were seen not wearing masks. Fauci was interviewed for 60 Minutes and spoke about the event.
Dr. Fauci said of the president's own COVID-19 infection after that event, "I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation, of crowded, no separation between people. And, almost nobody wearing a mask."
"When I saw that on TV, I said 'oh my goodness,' nothing good can come out of that, that's got to be a problem, and then sure enough it turned out to be a super spreader event," Fauci said.
Nearly 220,000 Americans have died from the disease the virus causes.