CNN’s Anderson Cooper chided the White House moments after a spokesman accused the media of fueling speculation that President Trump might fire Dr. Anthony Fauci.
The White House issued a statement Monday afternoon rejecting speculation that Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, might be on his way out after Trump retweeted a message calling for him to be fired, which also took swipes at the media and Democrats.
Cooper, who was hosting CNN Right Now as a fill-in for Brianna Keilar, responded to the statement on-air, calling it “so cheap.”
“It’s the president who retweeted this person’s tweet, you know … with fire Fauci,” Cooper said. “The idea — you know, the president of the United States is the most important person, you know, on the national stage, and if he’s retweeting some person who’s tweeting about fire Fauci, you would think it has some meanings. The idea that Hogan Gidley is saying this is all just reporters, you know, elevating this. I mean, it’s just ridiculous. It’s unfortunate they use this. They could have put out a statement saying Dr. Fauci is a valued member.”
“I don’t know why it bothers me. It’s what we should expect from this White House,” he added.
Sunday evening, Trump retweeted a missive from a Republican that said, in part, “Time to #FireFauci,” after the country’s top infectious disease expert said lives could have been saved if the government had acted more quickly to stop the threat of the coronavirus.
Trump and Fauci have repeatedly denied there is tension between them.
“The media chatter is ridiculous — President Trump is not firing Dr. Fauci,” White House spokesperson Hogan Gidley said in a statement Monday.
“The President’s tweet clearly exposed media attempts to maliciously push a falsehood about his China decision in an attempt to rewrite history,” he continued. “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. Dr. Fauci has been and remains a trusted adviser to President Trump.”
