Former President Donald Trump slammed Dr. Anthony Fauci as ‘so full of crap’ because the nation’s top infectious disease expert wants Americans to wear five masks, it has been reported.
Trump mocked Fauci for his poor throwing arm, which he demonstrated while throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at a Washington Nationals baseball game at Nationals Park last season, according to The Washington Post.
The former president told Republican donors at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida on Saturday that Fauci was well-liked by the public simply because he contradicted Trump.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Fauci’s agency, the National Institutes of Health, for a response to Trump’s remarks.
Fauci, the nation’s top epidemiologist, has been director of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984.
Former President Donald Trump (pictured left in Orlando in February) lashed out at Dr. Anthony Fauci (seen right on March 18 on Capitol Hill) as ‘so full of crap’ because the nation’s top infectious disease expert wants Americans to wear five masks, it has been reported
During a speech to Republican donors at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida on Saturday, Trump reportedly mocked Fauci for his weak throw as he made a ceremonial first pitch before the July 23, 2020 baseball game between the Washington Nationals and the New York Yankees at Nationals Park in Washington, DC
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fauci has been praised by Trump opponents for his guidance on mitigation measures including masking and social distancing.
But many Republicans and their supporters believe that Fauci’s support of lockdown measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus inflicted damage to the economy.
Fauci and other public health experts have been criticized by conservatives for what they said was mixed messaging on mask-wearing. In the early days of the pandemic, the public was advised not to wear face coverings.
Fauci and others have stated that the guidance on mask-wearing changed after the coronavirus became more widespread and that the initial statements were intended to preserve enough masks for nurses and doctors.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who had a contentious relationship with Trump, made no secret of his relief that a new administration took power in Washington, DC. Fauci made his first appearance at President Joe Biden’s side on January 21 at an event on new executive orders tied to the coronavirus pandemic
Fauci had a contentious relationship with Trump in the president’s final months in office.
Trump wanted to focus on reopening the economy as Fauci and other medical experts wanted to keep stronger restrictions in place to keep the COVID virus from spreading.
And there was the famous face-palm moment. In March, as Fauci stood behind Trump at the podium in the briefing room, the doctor appeared to chuckle to himself before covering his face with his palm as Trump railed against ‘the Deep State Department.’
Fauci was sidelined by the Trump White House, rarely appearing in press briefings and kept from doing interviews with major news outlets.
He spread his message about COVID through local news interviews and podcasts.
After Trump lost the election Trump made his displeasure with Fauci known.
He called him a Democrat and publicly mulled firing him although that would have been difficult as Fauci is a career federal employee.
Fauci had to have a security detail due to death threats made to him and his family.
In reflecting on his relationship with Trump, Fauci noted in January he took no joy in contradicting the former commander in chief.
‘It was very clear that they were things that were said, regarding things like hydroxychloroquine and other things like that. That really was an uncomfortable situation because they were not based on scientific fact, I can tell you I take no pleasure at all in being in a situation of contradicting the president,’ he said.
Last month, Trump slammed Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, as ‘two self-promoters trying to reinvent history.’
The former president accused the pair of being excessively cautious and medically misguided, insisting that his decisions to overrule them ‘is saving the entire world’.
The former president said Fauci was inconsistent, describing him as ‘the king of “flip flops”,’ and denied Birx’s claim that they had a ‘very difficult’ phone call at the start of the pandemic, when she told him how severe a threat the pandemic posed.
‘She was a very negative voice who didn’t have the right answers,’ Trump said.
Fauci talked about the strain he felt giving briefings under President Trump such as this briefing in April, 2020
Fauci’s face palm moment in March went viral
His stinging statement came after Fauci and Birx both appeared on CNN, with Birx speaking of her regrets as White House COVID task force chief, and Fauci appearing to claim credit for the decision to quickly develop vaccines against COVID-19.
Fauci made the comment in an interview with CNN for a special, diving into the details of America’s pandemic response.
‘When I saw what happened in New York City, almost over-running of our healthcare systems, and that’s when it became very clear that the decision we made on January 10 to go all out and develop a vaccine, may have been the best decision that I’ve ever made with regard to intervention as the director of the institute,’ Fauci said.
Fauci’s remarks seemed to gloss over the key role played by pharmaceutical companies and Operation Warp Speed – the Trump administration’s program to manufacture, test and deliver vaccines to the public in record time.
Trump on Monday described Fauci and Birx as bumbling failures.
Fauci, he said, ‘tried to take credit for the vaccine, when in fact he said it would take three to five years’.
Trump said it was his decision to begin the vaccine program.
‘We developed American vaccines by an American President in record time, nine months, which is saving the entire world,’ he said.
‘We bought billions of dollars of these vaccines on a calculated bet that they would work, perhaps the most important bet in the history of the world.’
The former president said Fauci was ‘incapable’ of pushing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to hurry with their approval process, and accused him of constantly changing his advice.
‘Dr Fauci is also the king of “flip flops” and moving the goalposts to make himself look as good as possible,’ Trump said.
He said that Fauci had argued against Trump’s decision to end incoming flights from China, and pointed out that in the early days of the pandemic Fauci recommended not wearing a face mask.
Trump concluded: ‘I was the one to get it done, and even the fake news media knows and reports this.’
He also mocked Fauci’s ceremonial first pitch at the opening game of the baseball season last July, ridiculing the lifelong baseball fan for talking about his sporting prowess as a young man.
The former president then turned to Birx, who was the head of his White House COVID task force.
Dr. Deborah Birx said in the clip of a CNN documentary that she had a ‘very difficult and very uncomfortable’ phone call with then-President Donald Trump in August 2020 after she spoke to the press about the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic
At the time, Birx was serving on Trump’s coroanvirus response team and her comments ran in direct counter-messaging to the administration’s downplay of the coronavirus threat
Birx appeared on the same show as Fauci on Sunday night, and in recent weeks has given numerous interviews in which she has expressed regret for how she handled her role as head of the White House coronavirus task force.
‘Dr. Birx is a proven liar with very little credibility left,’ Trump said, claiming that Fauci would talk badly about her behind her back.
‘The States who followed her lead, like California, had worse outcomes on Covid, and ruined the lives of countless children because they couldn’t go to school, ruined many businesses, and an untold number of Americans who were killed by the lockdowns themselves.
‘Dr. Birx was a terrible medical advisor, which is why I seldom followed her advice.’
The former president also swiped at Birx for traveling for Thanksgiving to see her family despite emphasizing guidance to avoid nonessential travel.
Trump delivered the criticism despite traveling frequently for campaign events throughout the pandemic, including holding a host of largely maskless rallies in the weeks leading up to the election.
Trump’s anger at his former health officials has been growing.
In a formal statement earlier this month, Trump said: ‘I hope everyone remembers when they’re getting the COVID-19 (often referred to as the China Virus) Vaccine, that if I wasn’t president, you wouldn’t be getting that beautiful ‘shot’ for 5 years, at best, and probably wouldn’t be getting it at all.’
Fauci was one of the lead members of Trump’s Coronavirus Task Force, and President Joe Biden subsequently appointed him as chief medical advisor. He had no formal role in Operation Warp Speed.
Fauci has never been publicly named as a key figure in the development of vaccines or in Operation Warp Speed, which operated separately from the Coronavirus Task Force.
Elsewhere in the CNN special, titled ‘COVID WAR: The Pandemic Doctors Speak Out,’ Birx said the number of coronavirus deaths in the US would have ‘decreased substantially’ if cities and states had learned from the first surge that claimed 100,000 lives.
She claimed subsequent surges could have been ‘mitigated’ if the lessons had been learned and acted on.
Birx led the Trump administration’s Coronavirus Task Force, but announced her intent to retire from government after it emerged that she had hosted three generations of her family from two households over Thanksgiving, despite her own warnings to Americans to restrict such gatherings to ‘your immediate household’.
Trump also hit out at fellow Republican Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader from Kentucky. Trump trashed McConnell as a a ‘dumb son of a bit*h.’ McConnell is seen above on March 23 at the US Capitol
‘I look at it this way. The first time we have an excuse,’ Birx said of the initial surge of cases and deaths last spring.
‘There were about a hundred thousand deaths that came from that original surge. All of the rest of them, in my mind, could have been mitigated or decreased substantially.’
Birx also revealed that she had a ‘very uncomfortable’ phone call with Trump in August after she warned the press about the severity of the pandemic.
‘It was a CNN report in August that got horrible pushback,’ Birx told said. ‘That was a very difficult time, because everybody in the White House was upset with that interview and the clarity that I brought about the epidemic,’ she continued.
‘I got called by the President,’ Birx detailed. ‘It was very uncomfortable, very direct and very difficult to hear.’
Birx deflected when CNN correspondent Gupta asked if Trump threatened her during the call.
‘I would say it was a very uncomfortable conversation,’ she reiterated.
‘Call it Trumpcine’: Former President continues to claim credit for COVID shot and slams Pence for lacking ‘courage’ to back him over election fraud claims as he attends GOP fundraiser with Melania and vows to help take back the House in 2022
Former President Donald Trump told an audience of Republican Party donors on Saturday that the COVID-19 vaccine should be named after him as he admonished them to call it ‘the Trumpcine.’
He also called the November election in which Joe Biden won ‘bulls**t,’ according to the Washington Post, which cited an attendee, who also said he spoke for about an hour at his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort for a party fundraiser.
He said he wished former Vice President Mike Pence had possessed the ‘courage’ to send the certification of the Electoral College votes back to state legislatures.
‘I like him so much. I was disappointed,’ Trump said, according to the Post.
Most Democrats even think he won the election, Trump said, according to the Post, but they won’t say it out loud.
He repeated a line from 2015 calling immigrants crossing the border illegally violent criminals, this time saying ‘they’re coming in from the Middle East.’
‘They’re not sending their best people. You have murderers, you have rapists, you have drug dealers,’ Trump said, according to the Post.
A picture posted on social media shows former President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive for dinner on Saturday at the Trump Mar-a-Lago Resort, where Republican National Committee donors gathered
Trump at the event boasted that he would help the GOP reclaim the House of Representatives
Trump is said to have called for the COVID-19 vaccine to be called ‘Trumpcine,’ according to a Twitter posting from a CNN reporter
The former president also hit out at Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the former Republican Senate Majority Leader who’s since fallen out with Trump after pinning blame on him for the January Capitol riots.
McConnell is a ‘dumb son of a bit*h,’ Trump said in his Saturday remarks, according to a CNN reporter who was told by a person in the room.
During the Saturday talk, Trump said some have told them there were ‘more than a million’ people at the rally that preceded the riots, according to the Post.
Meanwhile, Trump said he will help the GOP win seats in 2022 congressional elections but shed no new light on whether he will seek a second term in 2024.
Trump played host to a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago Club for Republican National Committee donors who are spending the weekend charting the future course of the party in Palm Beach, Florida.
His comments on the vaccine come after polls showed Republicans are more reluctant to get the vaccine than Democrats and independents. Trump pushed vaccine development along with his Operation Warp Speed.
Trump in March recommended that his supporters get vaccinated against COVID-19. The former president, 74, was vaccinated before leaving the White House on January 20.
As for politics, Trump said he would continue to be the leader of the party.
‘We are gathered tonight to talk about the future of the Republican Party – and what we must do to set our candidates on a course to victory,’ Trump said, according to a prepared text of his speech to the group seen by Reuters.
‘I stand before you this evening filled with confidence that in 2022, we are going to take back the House (of Representatives) and we are going to reclaim the Senate. And then in 2024, a Republican candidate is going to win the White House,’ he said.
Trump is seen above mingling at the fundraiser (left). Melania is pictured at the event, right
The former president, 74, was vaccinated before leaving the White House on January 20. Trump is pictured above at Mar-A-Lago on Saturday
Trump has spent the 2-1/2 months since his chaotic exit from the White House considering requests from 2022 candidates for his endorsement and has been giving them his blessing based on whether they support him and his agenda or not.
He has said any talk of his own plans – the Constitution gives him the right to seek another four-year term – should wait until after the November 2022 elections.
A variety of other Republicans are considering their own potential runs for the party’s presidential nomination in 2024, such as Trump’s former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
While Democratic President Joe Biden defeated Trump by millions of votes, the Republican made inroads among traditional Democratic voters such as Hispanics and African Americans.
Trump, who sprinkled his remarks with attacks on Biden, said the key to victories in 2022 is to build on those gains, saying ‘the Republican Party will succeed and grow in the future by embracing its destiny as the champion of working-class Americans.’
Trump’s active role in Republican politics despite losing the 2020 election is unlike other former presidents who have tended to retreat from the limelight upon leaving the White House.
‘Saturday´s speech will be welcomed words to the Republican donors visiting Mar-a-Lago to hear directly from President Trump. Palm Beach is the new political power center, and President Trump is the Republican Party´s best messenger,’ said Trump adviser Jason Miller.
On Friday, he also held court at his resort, where he endorsed his former press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, for governor of Arkansas
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is running for Arkansas governor, posted a picture to Instagram on Saturday thanking Trump for endorsing her at Mar-a-Lago on Friday
Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to address donors Saturday night as well.
Earlier in the weekend, a slew of candidates already positioning themselves for a 2024 presidential run made appearances.
Besides DeSantis, the potential White House contenders included South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio of Florida and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina also spoke.
On Friday, Trump held a campaign event for his old press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at Mar-a-Lago to endorse her gubernatorial run in Arkansas.
The former president, who has been seldom seen since leaving office and being banned from social media, appeared before a cheering crowd to endorse Sanders.
He praised her and boasted about how he won Arkansas ‘by so much’ in 2016 and 2020.
Mar-a-Lago was a busy place over the last couple days, as it played host to political events for Sarah Huckabee Sanders and for GOP donors; people gathered outside on Friday
Security was tight outside the premises as the former president spoke
Trump endorsed Huckabee Sanders on Friday in front of a crowd at Mar-a-Lago
After a game of golf on Saturday afternoon, before the speech, a woman who said she was Vietnamese and who was wearing wearing a ’45 LOVE’ dress explained to former President Donald Trump the meaning of the dress as he has lunch with his golf partners at Mar-A-Lago
‘A special woman, this was so easy for me. This has to be the easiest endorsement that I made,’ he said.
Sanders launched her campaign in January. She served with Trump from 2017 until 2019, replacing Sean Spicer as Trump’s press secretary before becoming an adviser.
On Thursday, Trump emailed a statement to subscribers to endorse Sanders and trash the current governor of Arkansas.
He said Gov. Asa Hutchinson ‘supported the chemical castration of children’ because he vetoed a bill banning hormone treatment for transgender children.
‘Asa Hutchinson, the lightweight RINO Governor of Arkansas, just vetoed a Bill that banned the CHEMICAL CASTRATION OF CHILDREN.
‘Fortunately for the Great State of Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee Sanders will do a fantastic job as your next governor.
‘Bye-bye Asa,’ that’s the end of him!’ he added.
