Trump: Fauci ‘Revered’ by Media, but ‘He Works for Me’

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, about the CCP virus, as President Donald Trump listens, in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, in Washington, April 17, 2020. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)

President Donald Trump on Sunday took aim at the praise Dr. Anthony Fauci has received from some, noting that the doctor is part of the Trump administration.

“Dr. Fauci is revered by the LameStream Media as such a great professional, having done, they say, such an incredible job, yet he works for me and the Trump Administration, and I am in no way given any credit for my work,” Trump wrote in a social media statement.

“Gee, could this just be more Fake News?” he added.

Fauci is the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.

While Fauci has received positive reviews from many media outlets and a number of officials for his actions during the COVID-19 pandemic, he has received criticism as well for his shifting views.

Trump’s statement came after Fauci, appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” took issue with the president’s earlier message asserting the COVID-19 death toll is “exaggerated.”

Trump blamed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the alleged overcount of deaths and cases.

“The deaths are real deaths. I mean, all you need to do is to go out into the trenches, go to the hospitals, see what the health care workers are dealing with,” Fauci responded. “They are under very stressed situations in many areas of the country, the hospital beds are stretched. People are running out of beds, running out of trained personnel who are exhausted right now.”

“Right now, that’s real. That’s not fake, that’s real.”