Trump shares tweet from supporter calling for Fauci to be fired

President Trump on Sunday retweeted a supporter who called for Anthony Fauci, a top member of the White House coronavirus task force, to be fired.

Former congressional candidate DeAnna Lorraine in her tweet accused Fauci of reversing his position on the danger posed by the coronavirus, writing that the doctor claimed the virus “posed no threat to the US public at large” on Feb. 29.

“Time to #FireFauci,” Lorraine added.

Fauci is now saying that had Trump listened to the medical experts earlier he could’ve saved more lives.

Fauci was telling people on February 29th that there was nothing to worry about and it posed no threat to the US public at large.

Time to #FireFauci…

— DeAnna Lorraine (@DeAnna4Congress) April 12, 2020

Trump retweeted the message Sunday evening, along with a tweet taking aim at the “Fake News.” It was one of many tweets from the president on Sunday lashing out at the media over its coverage of his administration’s coronavirus response.

“Sorry Fake News, it’s all on tape. I banned China long before people spoke up. Thank you @OANN,” he tweeted, adding praise for the right-wing One America News Network.

Sorry Fake News, it’s all on tape. I banned China long before people spoke up. Thank you @OANN https://t.co/d40JQkUZg5

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2020

The White House responded to a request for comment on the tweet Monday afternoon, denying that the president was considering removing Fauci from the coronavirus task force.

“This media chatter is ridiculous – President Trump is not firing Dr. Fauci. The President’s tweet clearly exposed media attempts to maliciously push a falsehood about his China decision in an attempt to rewrite history. It was Democrats and the media who ignored Coronavirus choosing to focus on impeachment instead, and when they finally did comment on the virus it was to attack President Trump for taking the bold decisive action to save American lives by cutting off travel from China and from Europe,” said deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley.

“Dr. Fauci has been and remains a trusted advisor to President Trump,” Gidley added.

Trump’s retweet of Lorraine’s message comes after Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday morning and was asked by host Jake Tapper if restrictive measures put in place earlier by the government would have saved more lives amid the pandemic.

“I mean, obviously, you could logically say that if you had a process that was ongoing, and you started mitigation earlier, you could have saved lives,” Fauci said. “Obviously, no one is going to deny that.”

Fauci himself has urged journalists in the past to stop “pitting” him against the president in the press.

“That is really unfortunate. I would wish that would stop because we have a much bigger problem here than trying to point out differences,” Fauci said in March. “There really fundamentally at the core … are not differences.”

“The president has listened to what I have said and what the other people on the task force have said. When I have made recommendations he has taken them,” he added. “The idea of just pitting one against the other is just not helpful.”

Lorraine ran for Congress earlier this year for the seat currently held by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) but was defeated in the state’s open primary last month.

Updated at 1:45 p.m. on 4/13 to include a comment from the White House