‘WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?’

Fauci on Trump: ‘I Can’t Jump in Front of the Microphone and Push Him Down’

The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases talks about his efforts to keep Trump fact-based.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he is working to get the White House coronavirus press conferences to go virtual and also trying to keep President Trump’s statements about the pandemic fact-based. Asked about things that “are being said that aren’t true and aren’t factual” in a new interview with Science magazine, Fauci said he tells “the appropriate people” and they speak to Trump, “be careful about this and don’t say that. But I can’t jump in front of the microphone and push him down. OK, he said it. Let’s try and get it corrected for the next time.” Fauci also gave a “no comment” when asked whether he’d been reprimanded for covering his face when Trump referred to the “deep State Department.” The moment has since gone viral.