Dr. Fauci Recalls His First Meeting With Trump, Says All Was Good Until Former President Wished This

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Former Chief Medical Advisor to the President of the United States, recently appeared on The View to discuss his new book On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service and of course, Donald Trump. The 83-year-old recalled how after COVID-19 hit the world, his once "good relationship" with the ex-president "got really dicey." 

Moderator Joy Behar asks the physician about one of the chapters [in his book] dedicated to Trump titled: He loves me, He loves me not, "You dedicate a chapter in the book to your dealings with Trump. And you describe some angry ranting phone calls he would berate you and flatter you in the same breath. I am wondering, you said you worked with seven other presidents. Did any of them ever speak to you the way he does or did?" 

Dr. Fauci responded, "No, of course. Not even close. Early on, in the beginning, he is an engaging character. We had a certain rapport with each other. I was trying to figure out what it was. I think it's that [we were] two guys from New York City. He was from Queens, I was from the Bronx. We kind of had that New York, he calls it swagger, with each other that was fine." 

He noted that all that was really good until the Coronavirus hit, and the ex-commander-in-chief spewed hate against him in the press and spreading falsities. "All that was really good in the beginning, until he wished and hoped that the outbreak would disappear because it clearly was getting in the way of both the economy and then as a result of that, into the election cycle. So he started to say things that actually were not true." 

The scientist and immunologist served as the director of NIAID- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was one of the lead members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. However, Dr. Fauci paid the price of contradicting Trump and consequently, their relationship went downhill from there. 

The medical advisor further told the all-female panelists that he felt a  "responsibility" to his own personal and professional integrity as well as to the American people and "contradicted" Trump. "Once I did that, then things got really dicey. I don't think [Trump] went away from the fact that we did have a good relationship but he was really very upset about the fact that I had to get up and say, 'No, it's not gonna disappear like magic. No, hydroxychloroquine does not work." 

The committed doctor earned much praise for his work throughout his nearly 4 decades of work under several presidents. However, during the pandemic, he became a villain, especially for Trump supporters who chanted "Fire Fauci" and the ex-president silently allowed it to happen. He was accused of inventing the virus and his family received death threats.

In an hour-long conversation with The New York Times, Dr. Fauci recalled, "The first time I met him [Trump] was in September 2019, when they asked me to come down to the White House [as he was signing] an executive order regarding something about influenza." He further said that he didn't take "any pleasure in contradicting the president" but I made a decision that I just had to. Otherwise, I would be compromising my own integrity, and be giving a false message to the world."