Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a press conference on the dismissal of 9th Judicial Circuit Florida prosecutor Monique Worrell in Tallahassee, Fla., on Aug. 9, 2023. (Ron DeSantis/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)
Posted on 09/09/2023 9:37:01 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Former President Donald Trump responded to questions about why he did not terminate the employment of former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci amid the early onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, President Trump was asked about Dr. Fauci, who had been on the Trump pandemic response force, in 2020. "First of all, you’re not allowed," the former president said when asked why he didn't fire him, which Mr. Hewitt said was the "biggest knock" on his presidency.
"No, no, no, Dr. Fauci was there. First of all, he’s civil service, and you’re not allowed to fire him. But forget that because I don’t necessarily go by everything … but Dr. Fauci would tell me things, and I wouldn’t do them in many cases. But also, he wasn’t a big player in my administration," President Trump said. "Dr. Fauci became a big player in the administration of Biden. He’s a very big player in Biden’s administration."
The former president has received some criticism—namely from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis—for not firing Dr. Fauci, who ultimately became a controversial figure during the pandemic for his often dire predictions about the course of the virus. The former public health official also often recommended people wear masks, get the vaccines, and defended COVID-19-related lockdowns and stay-at-home orders.
In response to President Trump's comments this week, Mr. DeSantis dismissed the former president's arguments that he couldn't fire him. He said that President Trump's comment differs from the ones he gave about Dr. Fauci in the past.
"It's important to point out for a long time that was not his excuse," Mr. DeSantis told the Rubin Report on Wednesday. "His excuse had been that if you fired Fauci, both the Democrats and the media would have pitched a fit, which, of course, is 100 percent true."
"But that's the price of leadership. You got to stand up and do what's right," the governor continued to say. "Clearly, he could have been fired from the White House Task Force. There was no obligation to run him out at press conference after press conference, have him doing media interviews."
During the pandemic, Mr. DeSantis grew a national profile for ending COVID-19 lockdowns early and reopening businesses while also backing laws that would prevent vaccine or mask mandates, or any new lockdowns. However, like other governors around the United States, Mr. DeSantis in March 2020 ordered a statewide lockdown due to the virus before he rescinded it several months later.
"During the height of the COVID stuff in 2020, Fauci would do local hits in Florida media attacking me for having schools open and some of these other stuff," he told the Rubin Report. "So, there was no obligation to do that. I think you could have also fired him from NIH because he had basically committed misconduct with the gain of function [research]."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a press conference on the dismissal of 9th Judicial Circuit Florida prosecutor Monique Worrell in Tallahassee, Fla., on Aug. 9, 2023. (Ron DeSantis/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)
But President Trump said that Mr. DeSantis "shut down Florida," and the state "was tight as a drum." He added: "He had vax lines. He was vaxxing everything. Now, he talks about the vaccinations this and that."
"And let me tell you the other thing. I will send you, after this conversation, five articles about how much he loves Dr. Fauci," he continued. "'I do what Dr. Fauci says. This is Ron DeSantimonious. I do what Dr. Fauci says.' That’s what he says. And I’ve got the articles here. But he doesn’t like to go back."
The spat over Dr. Fauci, who stepped down from his federal government positions in late 2022, comes as some hospitals, schools, and businesses have reinstated mask mandates. In a Thursday news conference, the Florida governor announced that there won't be any new mandates in his state, reiterating a prior stance he has taken.
The former president added: "To every covid tyrant who wants to take away our freedom, hear these words: we will not comply, so don't even think about it. We will not shut down our schools; we will not accept your lockdowns; we will not abide by your mask mandates; and we will not tolerate your vaccine mandates.
“Even today, parts of our country are forcing children to wear masks in the classroom,” Mr. DeSantis told the news conference. “Those mandates are [dead on arrival’ in Florida, and we will protect parents and children from this perpetual COVID hysteria.”
As for President Trump, he released a video several days ago saying that Americans should "not comply" with any lockdowns, mandates, or other COVID-19 rules.
"The left-wing lunatics are trying very hard to bring back COVID lockdowns and mandates with all of their sudden fearmongering about the new variants that are coming," he said. "Gee whiz, you know what else is coming? An election."
The former president continued: "To every COVID tyrant who wants to take away our freedom, hear these words: we will not comply, so don't even think about it. We will not shut down our schools; we will not accept your lockdowns; we will not abide by your mask mandates; and we will not tolerate your vaccine mandates.
God Bless you and your family. I thought the apple taste is weak but Jasper seems to be ok with it. I like it with banana nut bread and cranberry juice. Regards. 🐴🙂.
Oh yeah, Zinc, D, C, and Quercetin.
Still grumbling and grexing I see.
Most intelligent post in this thread, congrats!
In fact Trump saying in spring 2020 that covid was just another flu and would die away when summer arrives, lost many senior votes. Seniors were petrified of highly contagious original version of covid which was killing seniors in nursing homes by the thousands.
Biden played it smart by hiding in basement with a burqa. Seniors construed that as Biden was taking covid more seriously and would protect them better.
In 2020 there was not enough data to know who was right about covid. It was brand new virus with no history to rely on. If Trump would fire the doctors from NHS Bureaucracy, I can’t even imagine the degree of attacks from media.
Finally, if someone says STOP, then STOP! If someone asks you to take them off your ping list, then take them off! If someone asks you to stop posting to them, the adult and polite thing to do is to accommodate them.--Jim Robinson, Again, STOP. Never post to me again. NEVER.
The media NEVER STOPPED degrading Trump for even suggesting Hydroxy or Ivermectin NOW we ALL KNOW it was an absolute early treatment!! NO ONE will EVER convince me that this BS of Covid was deliberately done to get rid of Trump AND to set the global reset into EXPRESS mode!! NO flu cases, tickers of cases on EVERY damn station, seniors being put into assisted care facilities with infected people, the fact that obese people were at a huge risk NEVER disclosed, this was NOTHING MORE than a virus PUSHED by the media with utter FEAR PORN!! The media did EVERYTHING possible to scare people to death and the medical profession did EVERYTHING WRONG in treating people causing MANY, MANY more unnecessary deaths!! Ventilators were a HUGE cause of unnecessary deaths!! Medical profession ignoring the proof of early treatment with Hydroxy and Ivermectin, government censoring ANYONE trying to inform people on line! Our government is PURE EVIL the utter HATRED of Trump to them the end justified the means we are living in very SCAREY times!! Fauci walking around with a HUGE tax payer pension makes me sick beyond belief!! This BASTARD is a criminal of epic proportions!!!
>> God Bless you and your family.
Same to you and yours!
>> I thought the apple taste is weak
The first kind we used when we had covid in ‘22 was OK, reminded me of the old Jolly Rancher Sour Apple hard candies. The most recent one (zimecterin I think) has a decidedly worse taste. Then again, I’m not taking it for the taste. We have the liquid too; wife likes it that way, but it’s less convenient IMO than the paste in the syringe.
>> Oh yeah, Zinc, D, C, and Quercetin.
Yes to Zinc, D, C. Haven’t had Quercetin.
The basic fact of the matter is that Trump, and nearly all of the rest of us, trusted the "experts." Why wouldn't we? Neither he, nor we, could have possibly imagined that these people, touted as the nation's leading "medical authorities," could simply be politically-motivated useful idiots working for the worldwide Left.
The blame lies completely with them, and with the media which built them up relentlessly as saviors of mankind. The only good to come of this whole thing is that millions of Americans had their eyes opened very, very wide about agenda-driven "experts."
Who made Fauci a national figure? It wasn’t Trump. It was the media. “Dr. Ouchie Fauci?” That wasn’t a Trump nickname. The media glorified the guy, made sure it was known he was the long-time expert in immunology, and did everything they could to belittle Trump whenever he made recommendations that weren’t Fauci-cleared. Fauci was the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from 1984 to 2022. That’s 38 f-ing years, and you expected Trump to pretend he didn’t exist, and refuse to use him as an advisor during Covid? You’re delusional.
He gave the Presidential Citation to all the members of Project Warp-Speed. It wasn't just Fauci. It's no different than Ron DeSantis and Beau Biden getting bronze stars for being good lawyers in a war zone. It's a citation for a job "well done." It's actually a BS award. An atta' boy. And he did it on his last day in office, which tells you it wasn't that important. At least he didn't give them the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
>> Neither he, nor we, could have possibly imagined that these people, touted as the nation’s leading “medical authorities,” could simply be politically-motivated useful idiots working for the worldwide Left.
Yep. The most useful fallout from the Kung Flu is the vast amount of leftist EVIL that has been exposed by dealing with it. Everything from what’s really going on in our public schools, to what hidden agenda the CDC/NIH/FDA/WHO/etc are pushing, to the unabashed, unrepentant self-serving wickedness of our “public servants” like the execrable Fauci.
Quit your whining. You spew BS and then tell people they can’t call you on it? You want to censor people who don’t agree with you? This isn’t Nazi Germany. I’m not threatening you, calling you names, harassing you. I’m responding to comments you make, as you have responded to mine.
Trump is a bigger loser than the French army.
Finally, if someone says STOP, then STOP! If someone asks you to take them off your ping list, then take them off! If someone asks you to stop posting to them, the adult and polite thing to do is to accommodate them.--Jim Robinson,
Again, STOP. Never post to me again. NEVER.
🥱
One more self serving lie. DeSantis is immolating himself.
Fauci is a career civil servant, not a political appointee, and his protected by law from political retaliation. If the president wanted to fire Fauci, he would have to claim some kind of performance problem or misconduct – a tall order for a doctor has served six presidents and is highly regarded among public health experts.
Also, among Fauci’s fiercest defenders is his own boss: Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health. Fauci, who was highly regarded as a top HIV/AIDS researcher, was named head of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 1984 under President Ronald Reagan.
Even if an administrative law judge agreed that Fauci had acted inappropriately, Fauci could appeal that decision before the Merit Systems Protection Board, a federal body that Trump has let languish without enough appointees to establish a quorum and is sitting on a massive backlog of cases.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-fire-fauci-easily-make-messy/story?id=73971488
Short answer: No. Trump can’t fire Fauci. He could instruct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, to do it, or attempt to force National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins—to whom Fauci has been a mentor—to carry out such a diktat.
But even then they’d need to come up with some cause, says Max Stier, the president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service. “They can certainly harass him, but the whole point of our system is to provide civil servants protections for just these reasons.”
Even Trump’s recent executive order that seeks to create a new schedule for civil servants to make some easier to fire wouldn’t ease the administration’s burden if it wanted to can Fauci. The NIH would have to designate him as someone who could be on that schedule, which would take at least 90 days, and that’s assuming the order isn’t blocked.
But if the administration did succeed in the firing? In that case, Fauci would be able to appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board, which under Trump has no board members and a three-year case backlog.
https://www.washingtonian.com/2020/11/02/could-trump-actually-fire-fauci/
But wait. Ivermectin was not part of his regiment when he caught COViD.
*Sigh* He did. You must not watch his interviews. He did take responsibility for his picks at least twice.
VPs don’t have authority to do anything.
Trump promotes his “enemies” by hiring them to work in his administration.
You don’t know what he was taking.
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