Anthony Fauci Says Trump Tried to Coax Him Into Minimizing COVID Pandemic: 'Be More Positive'
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said that former President Donald Trump tried to get him to downplay the severity of the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 25.6 million individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 in America as of Sunday, and over 429,000 deaths have been attributed to the virus. At the time, Fauci's routine public contradictions of Trump's pandemic claims drew harsh backlash from MAGA supporters, who would chant "fire Fauci!" at campaign rallies.
Now working for President Biden's administration, Fauci told The New York Times, in an interview published Sunday, that Trump had urged him to be optimistic—even as things got dire.
"I would try to express the gravity of the situation, and the response of the president was always leaning toward, 'Well, it's not that bad, right?' And I would say, 'Yes, it is that bad,'" he recalled.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/anthony-fauci-says-trump-tried-to-coax-him-into-minimizing-covid-pandemic-be-more-positive/ar-BB1d3xyt?ocid=DELLDHP&li=BBnb7Kz
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No, this does not surprise me one little bit. In fact, I'd be a lot more surprised to hear 45 had NOT tried to get Fauci to downplay it. After all, that's what 45 was doing himself all the way along, including trying to minimize the amount of testing that got done. Because "if we didn't do any testing, we would have very few cases." 
So, of course he would have tried to put a muzzle on Fauci. SO glad it didn't work, and that Fauci is letting people know what was going on behind the scenes, now that he can.
