Trump says he is not firing Fauci, defends virus response

U.S. President Donald Trump went on the defensive over his administration's response to the coronavirus on Monday, insisting he would not fire Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious diseases expert, despite retweeting a call to do so just a day before.

Gloria Tso reports.

U.S. President Donald Trump went on the defensive over his virus response Monday (April 13), and insisted that he would not get rid of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious diseases expert.

That's despite retweeting a call to fire Fauci the day before.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING: "Today I walk in, and hear I'm going to fire him.

I'm not firing.

I think he's a wonderful guy.

I retweeted somebody.

I don't know.

They said fire.

It doesn't matter." Trump has faced criticism for initially downplaying the seriousness of the virus.

At Monday's briefing he insisted he and Fauci had been on quote "the same page" from the beginning, and played a campaign-style video for reporters that showed clips of state governors praising his efforts.

It appeared to defend his administration's coronavirus response from day one.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAYING: "We've done this right.

And we really, we really have done this right.

The problem is the press doesn't cover it the way it should be." Trump's rant comes after Fauci was asked about a New York Times report, documenting early warnings issued to the White House about the coronavirus.

Trump staunchly criticized the report - as well as members of the press.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING: "So the story in The New York Times was a total fake.

It's a fake newspaper.

And they write fake stories.

And someday, hopefully in five years when I'm not here, those papers are all going out of business because nobody's going to want to read them.

But now they like them, because they write about me." (SOUNDBITE) (English) CBS CORRESPONDENT PAULA REID, saying: "You bought yourself some time, you didn't use it to prepare hospitals, you didn't use it to ramp up testing." ( SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAYING: "You are so disgraceful, so disgraceful the way you say that." Over the weekend - Fauci said on CNN that shutting down the country sooner may have helped save more lives.

And Monday - he said he was answering a hypothetical question.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES ANTHONY FAUCI, SAYING: "And the answer to my question was, as I always do and I'm doing right now, perfectly honestly say, yes.

I mean, obviously, mitigation helps.

I've been up here many times telling you that mitigation works." Dr. Fauci has contradicted or corrected Trump previously on virus-related matters, including whether anti-malaria drugs were effective against the virus.

Some opinion polls during the public health crisis have shown Americans trust him more than Trump.