Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday shot down journalist Bob Woodward’s reporting that he once said President Trump was “unfocused in meetings” and that “his sole purpose is to get re-elected” — saying he doesn’t “recall that at all.”
Fauci, the administration’s top infectious diseases expert, was quoted in Woodward’s new book, “Rage,” as disparaging the president’s “rudderless” leadership and saying his “attention span is like a minus number.”
“If you notice, it was ‘others’ who have said that. You should ask ‘others.’ I don’t recall that at all,” Fauci told Fox News correspondent John Roberts.
“I didn’t read the book, but according to what I saw in the newspapers, it said, ‘others have said that.’ ”
Roberts then clarified, “So you would question that account, then?” to which Fauci responded, “Yeah, yeah.”
Fauci also denied Woodward’s claims that Trump was purposely downplaying the threat of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I didn’t get any sense that he was distorting anything. In my discussions with him, they were always straightforward about the concerns that we had,” Fauci said.
