Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar brushed off the notion that President Trump might seek the dismissal of Dr. Anthony Fauci after his supporters at a weekend rally urged him to fire the top doctor.
“Well, the president likes Dr. Fauci,” Azar told Fox News host Bill Hemmer on Monday. “He hears from many different advisers. He’s got a lot of our top doctors and top scientists and others to advise him, and he hears conflicting views, and he sorts them out and designs the best course for the country.”
Following chants of “Fire Fauci!” from his crowd of supporters in Florida on Sunday night, Trump said that he may make that decision after Election Day on Tuesday.
“Don’t tell anybody, but let me wait ’til a little bit after the election,” Trump told the crowd, which included many people without masks. “I appreciate the advice. I appreciate it. Now, he’s been wrong on a lot. He’s a nice man, though. He’s been wrong on a lot.”
But even if Trump wanted to fire Fauci, he could not do so just because he felt like it, according to Max Stier, president and CEO of Partnership for Public Service, who spoke to CNN about the topic.
“The president could not fire Fauci without cause,” Stier said. “There are civil service protections for career federal employees that prevent them from being removed or demoted for political reasons.”
Still, someone higher up his chain of command does have that ability, including the secretary of the Health and Human Services Department.
Trump has criticized Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force and a national expert on infectious diseases, more often in recent months, even calling the doctor a “disaster” during a call with his campaign staff.
Trump and Fauci often disagree on the steps that should be taken to reopen the country, with the president focused on economic recovery and reducing unemployment and Fauci concerned about trying to keep public health under control and to reduce the spread of the virus before normalizing social gatherings again.
Fauci has also referred to a large gathering at the White House on behalf of Justice Amy Coney Barrett in mid-October as a “superspreader” event and said he was “absolutely not” surprised that Trump himself had contracted COVID-19 after often appearing at these types of social gatherings in crowds of maskless attendants.
Democratic nominee Joe Biden criticized Trump’s comments about Fauci at a campaign event in Cleveland, Ohio, on Monday.
“Last night, Trump said he was going to fire Dr. Fauci. Isn’t that wonderful?” Biden said. “I have a better idea. … Elect me, and I’m going to hire Dr. Fauci, and we’re going to fire Donald Trump.”
