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At
a contentious briefing with reporters, Trump lashed out at media
coverage that has focused on gaps in the U.S. government's
response after initial warnings about the pandemic disease which
has now spread throughout the United States.
The president asserted he had the ultimate authority to re-open
the largely shuttered economy despite an earlier deference to
U.S. state governors and constitutional questions about whether
that decision-making fell within his purview.
"The president of the United States calls the shots. If we
weren't here for the states, you'd have had a problem in this
country like you've never seen before," Trump said. "When
somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is
total, and that's the way it's got to be. ... It's total. The
governors know that."
Trump, who said a plan to open businesses again would be
completed shortly, interrupted his daily briefing to play a
campaign-style video that highlighted his actions to tackle the
virus and included clips of Democratic and Republican governors
praising his efforts.
The president also invited Fauci to the stage in the opening
minutes of the briefing to make clear that Trump had followed
his recommendations on putting mitigation efforts into place
across the country.
Trump, who played down the seriousness of the virus in its
initial stages, has chafed at media coverage suggesting he did
not do enough to prevent its spread.
On Sunday, he retweeted a call to fire Fauci after the top U.S.
expert on infectious diseases said lives could have been saved
if the country had shut down sooner during the novel coronavirus
outbreak.
At the briefing on Monday, Fauci said he was answering a
hypothetical question in the television interview and made clear
that Trump had listened to him when he recommended mitigation
efforts.
Trump said he and Fauci had been on the same page "from the
beginning" and declared he liked the respected doctor. "I think
he's a wonderful guy," Trump said, while adding that not
everyone was happy with the health expert.
"VERY COMPLICATED"
Fauci has assumed national prominence - and a degree of popular
affection - as a leader in the fight against the coronavirus,
which has killed 23,543 people in the United States and infected
583,990, according to a Reuters tally.
He has contradicted or corrected Trump on scientific matters
during the public health crisis, including whether the
anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine is effective against the
virus.
On Monday, Fauci made a point of saying the president had
followed his advice on putting social distancing recommendations
in place for the country.
"The president listened to the recommendation," Fauci said. "The
first and only time that I went in and said: 'We should do
mitigation strongly,' the response was, 'Yes, we'll do it.'"
The Republican president in the past has repeated critical
tweets of officials or enemies rather than make the criticism
himself. The retweet fueled speculation Trump was running out of
patience with Fauci and could fire him, prompting a White House
denial before Trump's briefing.
White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said Trump's retweet
addressed what he considered a false report on his travel
restriction involving China, where the novel coronavirus
originated.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases, was asked on CNN about a New York Times
report documenting early warnings issued to the White House
about the novel coronavirus. The scientist acknowledged shutting
the country down sooner could have saved lives, but cautioned
that a number of factors were involved.
"Obviously, it would have been nice if we had a better head
start, but I don't think you could say that we are where we are
right now because of one factor," Fauci said. "It's very
complicated."
Already a target of the far right for his contradictions of
Trump, Fauci drew more opprobrium after the interview.
Trump also denounced the Times story in tweets on Sunday,
calling it "Fake."
Last week during the daily White House coronavirus briefing,
Trump stepped in and prevented Fauci from answering a question
about hydroxychloroquine.
"He won't fire Fauci today," tweeted Joe Lockhart, press
secretary to former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat. "That's
not his style. He needs to humiliate him a while first."
Fauci, 79, has led the federal infectious disease agency since
1984 under Republican and Democratic presidents. Republican
George W. Bush honored him with the presidential Medal of
Freedom in 2008.
Some opinion polls during the public health crisis have shown
Americans trust him more than Trump.
(Reporting by Steve Holland, Jeff Mason and Doina Chiacu in
Washington; additional reporting by Mohammad Zargham and Eric
Beech; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Peter Cooney and Lincoln
Feast.)
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