With former President Trump fading further into the distance, top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has been increasingly forthright about his frustrating experience battling the coronavirus pandemic in the previous administration.
Fauci told CNN on Sunday that one moment in particular during the early days of the COVID-19 spread had startled him.
The doctor was referring to Trump’s tweets calling on his supporters to “LIBERATE” several states where Democratic governors imposed COVID-19 mitigation protocols, including Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia. These states were also seeing armed protesters demonstrating against business closures and other efforts to contain the coronavirus.
“The thing that hit me like a punch to the chest was then all of a sudden he got up and says ‘liberate Virginia, liberate Michigan,’ and I said to myself, ‘oh my goodness, what is going on here.’ “It shocked me because it was such a jolt to what we were trying to do,” Fauci told CNN during a special program on the coronavirus.
