Fauci Reveals What He Would Do If Trump Is Reelected

Then-President Donald Trump listens as Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the CCP virus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington on April 22, 2020. Alex Brandon/AP Photo

White House COVID-19 adviser Anthony Fauci revealed what he would do if former President Donald Trump wins the presidency in 2024.

Speaking to CNN on Sunday, when asked if he would stay around under a new Trump administration, Fauci said he would not.

“Uh, well, no,” Fauci replied, laughing. When asked by CNN if Fauci would “not serve with Trump again,” Fauci replied: “Right, for sure. Yeah.”

Fauci was also asked about the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic.

“I think just history will speak for itself about that. I don’t need to make any further comments on that ... It’s not productive,” he said.

There have been more COVID-19-related deaths under the Biden administration than under the Trump administration. In about 10 months under the final period of the Trump administration, data suggests there were about 425,000 deaths in the United States. Under President Joe Biden’s first year, there were about 455,000 COVID-19 deaths, according to federal data.

“People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots, these people,” Trump said in October 2020 during a campaign conference call, referring to the doom-and-gloom predictions that were being made along with COVID-19-related restrictions. “Every time he goes on TV, there’s a bomb, but there’s a bigger bomb if you fire him,” he said at the time.

In March of last year, Trump told a podcast of Fauci: “I thought rather than firing him, you know, I listened to him, but I didn’t do what he said because, frankly, his record is not a good record.”

“I like him personally,” the former president added. “He’s actually a nice guy. He’s a great promoter. He’s really a promoter more than anything else.”

“And if I would’ve listened to them?” Trump asked. “And then they went to the other extreme, like the entire country should lock up. I didn’t go for that. And you know, it just wasn’t for me. I didn’t go for that.”

In March, Fauci, 81, hinted at retiring from being in charge of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a position he’s held since 1984.

For more than 50 years, Fauci has served as a public health expert in various capacities, although he was appointed as lead White House COVID-19 adviser by Biden last year.

“I can’t stay at this job forever. Unless my staff is going to find me slumped over my desk one day. I'd rather not do that,” Fauci said at the time.

Trump, meanwhile, has not publicly committed to running for president in 2024, although he has strongly hinted that he might.

“They’re going to find out the hard way starting Nov. 8 and even more so starting November 2024,” Trump said during a recent Conservative Political Action Conference in February, referring to the Democratic Party’s chances.