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- Dr. Fauci gave a candid interview with The Atlantic about his time working with Trump.
- Fauci said he confronted Trump and his aides directly when needed.
- “I didn’t tell them to back off,” Fauci said. “That wasn’t my style.”
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Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke openly in a new interview about how he dealt with confrontations during his time working with the Trump White House on the coronavirus.
In a forthright interview with The Atlantic, Fauci said he leaned on his Brooklyn roots when the former president or his aides would misconstrue what he was saying about the virus and the administration’s response.
“Did you tell Trump or his people to back off?” staff writer Peter Nicholas asked Fauci, referring to an ad the Trump campaign ran that made it seem like Fauci fully approved of how the president was handling the pandemic.
“I didn’t tell them to back off. That wasn’t my style,” Fauci said.
“My style was to say-to get a little Brooklyn-ite – ‘What is this bulls— that you people are doing?'” he continued. “I just made it very clear that I didn’t like it.”
Fauci, who remains in his post as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been speaking more candidly about his time working with Trump ever since President Joe Biden took office.
Back when Trump held daily coronavirus briefings, the nation's leading infectious disease expert would often correct him at the podium and occasionally contradict the administration's rosy messaging in media appearances.
Fauci's dissent became immortalized as a meme when he did a facepalm standing behind Trump during one briefing.
On Tuesday, Fauci told Fox News that he would like to put his past squabbles with Trump behind him.
Host Dana Perino asked Fauci why so much of a podcast interview he did with The New York Times focused on his time with Trump.
"I agree with you, Dana, and really, after that interview, I said to myself we've really got to look forward and ahead, and just put that behind us," Fauci said. "I totally agree with you."