Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared on CNN over the weekend and said that the country “could’ve saved lives” if we had started mitigation efforts earlier. 

Since Fauci is the main person recommending those mitigation efforts, I found his interview quite self- serving, pretending that he isn’t the one to be blamed for mitigation efforts not starting sooner. 

So here’s a fact-check on Fauci, most of evidence of his duplicity being in his own words. 

Towards the end of January, Fauci was downplaying the seriousness of the effects of the virus in our country. He said it “isn’t something the American public needs to worry about or be frightened about.” He also said it was a “very, very low risk to the United States.” 

On February 29, Dr. Anthony Fauci was still not alarmed about the virus and was telling America it was safe to go to movies, the mall and gyms. 

Then as late as March, Fauci was telling healthy young people they could go on cruises and that going to rallies where there was no community spread was fine. 

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So when exactly was this narrow window that Fauci wanted more mitigation but Trump was resistant? 

Trump released his “30 Days to Slow the Spread” on March 16th. and then on March 22nd, Mark Levin interviewed Fauci for the show “Life, Liberty & Levin.” 

This is what Fauci told Levin: “I have never in that room had a situation where I said, ‘Scientifically, this is the right thing to do it,’ and they (Trump admin.) don’t do it, or, ‘Scientifically, this is the wrong thing to do,’ and they did it anyway. Then we get up and we present it to the President, and he asks a lot of questions. That’s his nature. He’s constantly asking you questions. And I never, in the multiple times that I’ve done that, where I said, ‘For scientific reasons we really should do this,’ that he hasn’t said let’s do it or when he’s decided — not decided, when he suggests, ‘Why don’t we do this?’ and I say, ‘No, that is really not a good idea from a scientific standpoint,’ he has never overruled me.” 

Fauci was never overruled. The 30 Days to Slow the Spread information was released on March 16th which means Fauci must not have recommended mitigation efforts any sooner than that. If he would have recommended mitigation efforts in January or February that were not listened to, then he wouldn’t have made his comments to Levin in March. 

Still, Fauci implied to CNN over the weekend that he wasn’t listened to, contracting past statements. He said, “We make a recommendation. Often, the recommendation is taken. Sometimes it’s not. But we — it is what it is. We are where we are right now.” 

We cannot afford a medical person lying during a pandemic so he can cover his own failures. Whether Trump eventually fires Fauci or not, he definitely needs to take his counsel with a grain of salt.