During Monday's White House coronavirus briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci said comments he made over the weekend were not meant to be jabs against President Trump.
Fauci is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House coronavirus task force. While appearing on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday morning, Fauci told host Jake Tapper that in February, there was "a lot of pushback" to the idea of enacting social distancing guidelines, and "you could logically say that if you had a process that was ongoing and you started mitigation earlier, you could have saved lives." The White House issued social distancing guidelines on March 16.
On Monday, Fauci said he was answering a "hypothetical question," and stating that there was "a lot of pushback" was "the wrong choice of words." When asked if Trump suggested he offer the clarification, Fauci responded, "Everything I do is voluntarily. Please. Don't even imply that."
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