Former US President Donald Trump said in an interview with The Water Cooler's David Brody that he ignored the advice of top immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci, who served on Trump's White House Coronavirus Task Force at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying "I really did pretty much the opposite of whatever he said," Mediaite reported.
Brody asked Trump if he regretted not firing Fauci, to which he responded, "Frankly, you can’t win that one. If I would’ve done it, I would’ve taken heat. If I didn’t do it, you know, it’s the same story. But I did what I wanted to do, and I made the correct decisions.”
Trump said he made his own decisions regarding the pandemic, even though they were often at odds with Fauci's recommendations, citing his early rollout of restrictions on travel from China and Europe to the US, Business Insider reported.
Though early in the pandemic, Fauci suggested that travel restrictions were "not a good idea at this time," for the most part, he supported Trump's decision to restrict travel from China.
Trump criticized Fauci for reversing his position on face masks, saying he had become a "radical masker." Fauci had initially discouraged people from wearing them due to concerns over PPE shortages for medical workers but later promoted widespread mask use.
Fauci said Trump "very likely" caused Americans to die by spreading misinformation about the pandemic, according to Business Insider.