Trump: Fauci ‘Made a Lot of Mistakes’ During Pandemic

Dr. Anthony Fauci, right, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks while President Donald Trump (C) and Vice President Mike Pence, listen during a briefing on the CCP virus pandemic, in the press briefing room of the White House in Washington on March 24, 2020. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

President Donald Trump admitted that White House COVID-19 task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci “made a lot of mistakes” in how he’s handled the messaging during the pandemic.

Trump was asked on Thursday night in an interview about how Texas and Florida are dealing with surges in the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, a novel coronavirus. In recent days, those states, along with other southeastern and southwestern states have reported significant increases in cases, prompting state officials to warn that their reopening efforts may be paused.

“Dr. Fauci is a nice man, but he’s made a lot of mistakes,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity after he was asked about the states. “A lot of them said don’t wear a mask, don’t wear a mask,” the president added. “Now they are saying wear a mask. A lot of mistakes were made, a lot of mistakes.”

The president was possibly referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) advice that it’s not recommended for people to wear face protection early on in the pandemic. In April, the agency reversed course and issued guidance that people should wear non-medical masks in public.

When Trump visits Walter Reed hospital on Saturday to visit wounded troops, he will wear a mask, according to comments in the interview.

He added that overall, 45 million people in the United States have been tested for the CCP virus, and most people have recovered.

People wearing facemasks walk past a health and safety guideline board and an open restaurant on Santa Monica Pier which re-opened on June 25 after closure for over three months due to the coronavirus pandemic in Santa Monica, Calif., on June 26, 2020. Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

“We have cases all over the place. Most of the cases immediately get better, they are people, young people, they have sniffles and two days later they are fine and they are not sick to start,” Trump said.

Throughout the pandemic, Fauci, the longtime head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been quick to issue warnings about the spread of the virus and saying that lockdowns are necessary.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Fauci said that Trump’s claims that 99 percent of CCP virus cases are “harmless” isn’t correct.

“I’m trying to figure out where the president got that number,” Fauci told The Financial Times. “What I think happened is that someone told him that the general mortality is about 1 percent. And he interpreted, therefore, that 99 percent is not a problem, when that’s obviously not the case.”

The doctor added that he hasn’t seen Trump since early June.

Trump announced Tuesday that the United States would officially begin the process of withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO) after the UN agency admitted several errors in its assessment of the virus, which originated in mainland China late last year.