As Chief Executive Officer, Trump had the ultimate power over Article 2 agencies and individuals. Trump is also responsible for elevating Fauci by appearing with him and acting in deference to Fauci.
Is not that Fauci was an unknown. During the 1970s he publicly bloviated and irresponsibly exaggerated the threat from AIDS. So much so that ‘responsible Federal management (Aside: Yes, I see the humor in the statement!)’ should have fired or relegated to some federal warehouse basement. As a minimum it should have been enough to never allow him to be a public spokesman.
Here’s my question:
How did CDC & NIAID as federal agencies get themselves exempt from civil service conflict of interest laws?