Fauci Endorses Biden for Another Term, Critiques Trump’s Missed Opportunities

Dr. Anthony Fauci hesitated to assess whether former President Donald Trump is fit to lead, but jumped at the opportunity when pressed about President Joe Biden as he shared assessments on how they performed as leaders from a public health perspective.

The issue came up as Fauci, a longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) who advised both Trump and Biden before retiring at the end of 2022, during a CBS interview that aired on Tuesday.

CBS’s Nate Burleson, moments later: “[W]hat about Biden. Do you believe he is fit to lead us for the next four years?”

Tony Fauci: “Oh, absolutely. You know, absolutely, because the first thing he did when I became his chief medical adviser, we had a conversation, literally the… pic.twitter.com/KkKiH1YQap

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 18, 2024

“You’ve spoken about your relationship and write about your complicated relationship with former President Donald Trump. He could possibly be our president again. Given that you know him, personally, from a public health perspective, do you believe he is fit to lead us if he is elected president?” asked “CBS Mornings” co-host Nate Burleson.

“I don’t want to get into what’s fit or not … from a health standpoint, he missed opportunities to use the bully pulpit of the presidency to tell people to do things that would keep them safe. That’s what bothers me as a public health person, as a physician, who my only care and goal is the safety and the protection of the American public and their health,” Fauci said.

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“And, for example,” Fauci continued with an anecdote related to the COVID-19 pandemic, “he could have said when the masks came out, and the CDC said wear a mask, instead of saying, ‘I don’t want to wear a mask,’ he could have said, ‘Masks save lives. I’ll wear a mask.’ And then, all the people who follow him religiously would have been wearing masks.”

Later in the interview, as noted by NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck, Burleson prompted Fauci to comment on Biden, who is also running for a second term. “Do you believe he is fit to lead us for the next four years?” he asked.

“Oh, absolutely,” Fauci replied. “You know, absolutely, because the first thing he did when I became his chief medical adviser, we had a conversation, literally the first day, saying we want to go with the evidence and the truth, and if we make a mistake, we correct it, but we’ve got to be honest with what’s going on. That was his first words to me.”