Carlos Barria/Reuters
During his last rally of a busy Sunday before Election Day in Opa-Locka, Florida, President Donald Trump made a stunning admission to supporters after a “Fire Fauci” chant broke out among the crowd.
“Don’t tell anybody, but let me wait until a little bit after the election,” Trump said as his fans cheered. “I appreciate the advice,” he added before going to to repeat the smear that his own administration’s top infectious disease expert has been “wrong on a lot” about the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s unclear how difficult it would be for Trump to fire Dr. Anthony Fauci, who as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is a career civil servant and not a political appointee.
Earlier this month, when The Daily Beast asked Fauci if he planned on leaving his role with the White House task force over Trump campaign ads that took his comments out of context, he replied, “Not a chance. Not in my wildest freakin’ dreams did I ever think about quitting.”