Former President Donald Trump has been obsessively and furiously watching Dr. Anthony Fauci’s TV interviews since President Joe Biden took office, the Daily Beast reported on Sunday, citing sources.
Fauci was transparent about his relief at working under a new government, saying at a press conference at the White House on Thursday that it was “a somewhat liberating sentiment”.
Although Fauci is not afraid to contradict Trump’s misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic, he stopped criticizing Trump directly when he was president or talking about the policy of the coronavirus task force.
But it looks like the filter is off now that Biden’s boss.
Fauci told CNN on Friday that Trump “most likely” cost American lives by spreading lies about the pandemic. He also told Rachel Maddow of MSNBC, who tried to go to her program for months, but was blocked by the Trump administration.
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He told The New York Times over the weekend that Trump and top White House advisers sometimes called him after an interview asking why he didn’t take a more “positive” view of the pandemic or why he contradicted the claims of Trump.
President Joe Biden in the White House State Dining Room on Friday.
Alex Wong / Getty
The Daily Beast, citing two sources, reported that Trump was closely watching Fauci’s media tour of his new home in Mar-a-Lago, complaining about how “incompetent” Fauci was and how he should have fired the disease specialist infectious when he had the chance.
(Trump, in fact, did not have the power to fire Fauci directly because he is a civil servant and not a political nominee.)
The Daily Beast reported that Trump was angry at not being able to tweet about Fauci, as his Twitter account was permanently suspended after the Capitol rebellion.
“He feels that many people are working to lessen his legacy by hating him,” a source told The Daily Beast.
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Trump and Fauci often discussed how to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak and government messages.
Trump pushed to reopen schools and businesses, while Fauci said more restrictions are needed.
Trump took a straightforward approach, leaving the decisions primarily to the states. Biden, on the other hand, is trying to find more ways for the federal government to intervene to stop the spread of the virus, from requiring masks in mass transport to increasing vaccine distribution.
Biden has a difficult job for him; reported infections in the U.S. reached 25 million over the weekend, with more than 400,000 deaths.