FILE PHOTO: Anthony Fauci, MD, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, testifies during a U.S. Senate Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Hearing to examine COVID-19, focusing on an update on the federal response at the U.S. Capitol Washington, D.C., U.S., September 23, 2020. Graeme Jennings/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
OPA-LOCKA 鈥� U.S. President Donald Trump suggested early on Monday that he might seek to fire a highly respected member of his coronavirus task force, Anthony Fauci, after Fauci further criticized Trump鈥檚 handling of the virus.
Fauci, the country鈥檚 leading infectious-disease expert who is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has taken issue with Trump鈥檚 repeated assertions that the U.S. fight against the virus was 鈥渞ounding the turn鈥� when in fact tens of thousands of people are being infected daily.
鈥淲e鈥檙e in for a whole lot of hurt. It鈥檚 not a good situation,鈥� Fauci told The Washington Post on Friday. 鈥淎ll the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors. You could not possibly be positioned more poorly.鈥�
When Trump defended his handling of the virus at a late-night campaign rally at Opa-Locka airport in the Miami area, a 鈥淔ire Fauci鈥� chant broke out.
In response to the chant, Trump said: 鈥淒on鈥檛 tell anybody, but let me wait until a little bit after the election.鈥�
Election Day is on Tuesday, with Trump trailing Democratic rival Joe Biden in opinion polls.
Fauci is one of the most popular health experts in the United States, a fact that Trump has cited in the past to avoid getting into tangles with him.