Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx “made nothing but mistakes” as they advised then-President Donald Trump in the early days of the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, Trump said Tuesday.
Trump blasted both Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Birx, the coronavirus response coordinator, in the interview with “Fox News Primetime” host Maria Bartiromo.
"So when you go into the COVID issue, we did a great job. We get very little credit for it," Trump said. "I closed the country far earlier. Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx and all of these people that, frankly, made nothing but mistakes. They didn’t want to do it. They didn’t want to close it. I closed the border to China. I closed the border to Europe, Italy, and all of these countries that were having tremendous problems long before they wanted me to do it."
Trump on Jan. 31 announced the U.S. would temporarily ban the admission of people who had been in China in the 14 days prior to their attempted travel to America. The restriction, which then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden called "hysterical xenophobia," took effect Feb. 2, and exempted U.S. citizens, green card holders, and some other groups.
The ban was announced one day after the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern over the novel coronavirus.
Fauci initially opposed the China travel ban.
"That would create a lot of disruption economically and otherwise, and it wouldn't necessarily have a positive effect," Fauci told S&P Global Market Intelligence on Jan. 27, 2020.
Trump and Fauci had a contentious relationship throughout the pandemic, and the former president sparred publicly with the nation’s top expert on infectious diseases, with Fauci swiftly transforming into something of a liberal icon due to the rift.
Trump in the interview Tuesday said Biden inherited a good situation when he was sworn in as president since Trump's Operation Warp Speed was responsible for developing virus vaccines in less than a year.
"The key was always going to be the vaccine," Trump said.
He added: "So, with the vaccines and with the job we have done with COVID, I inherited an empty cupboard. Biden failed very badly with H1N1 … It was a disaster. And now he is taking over this … We started manufacturing the vaccine before we really knew it worked. We saved many, many months and millions of lives by doing that, because you wouldn’t have the vaccine right now if we didn’t take that chance.
"We knew what we were doing, we felt strongly it was going to work, and we took a risk, and the risk was spending billions of dollars to develop it before we knew and before we had the approval that it was going to work. It works incredibly well. And it is really saving our country and, frankly, saving the world.”
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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