Trump At Odds With Dr. Fauci? Talk Of Tension Over Public Comments About Coronavirus

President Trump has attempted to quell rumors of tensions between the White House and Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Dr. Fauci, who has led the country’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for 35 years, has recently gained the national spotlight for his measured, rational, and informed responses to the outbreak of COVID-19. He has advised six presidents but has never gained as much prominence as in recent weeks amid the health crisis.

Speculation about a conflict between Dr. Fauci and Trump escalated Monday when the doctor was not present for a press briefing. This came after he had made public comments in the journal Science about disagreeing with Trump on several points and correcting Trump on inaccurate statements. Dr. Fauci even went as far as to say, "I can't jump in front of the microphone and push [Trump] down."

In addition, Dr. Fauci has frequently squashed the White House’s attempts to advocate certain treatments for the novel coronavirus. He has also recently expressed discomfort with Trump’s recent attempts to coin the term “Chinese virus” to refer to COVID-19.

All these factors combine to give the public a real sense of some conflict between Dr. Fauci and the White House.

Trump on Tuesday seemingly tried to downplay any sense of conflict, retweeting a clip of Dr. Fauci complimenting him while on a Fox News talk show.

“Thank you Tony!” Trump said in the tweet.

Nevertheless, a report from the New York Times on Monday suggested that the Trump administration was growing impatient with Dr. Fauci. However, the Times report also noted that Trump has been more willing to let Dr. Fauci contradict him publicly, due to his strong standing with the press and the American people.

Trump's tension with Dr. Fauci is not the first example the White House has had with health officials. In early March, reports surfaced that Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar was deemed an alarmist about COVID-19 and that Trump only wanted to hear good news about the outbreak.