Trump was so jealous of Fauci after Brad Pitt played him that he cut him off TV appearances: White House source
A White House source has allegedly claimed that President Donald Trump sidelined Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, after Brad Pitt played him in an 'SNL' sketch.
The White House insider claimed that POTUS was green with envy after the Hollywood superstar somewhat granted Dr. Fauci his request to play him in a biopic of his life by appearing as him for a Saturday Night Live skit that was aired in April. "The killer for (Fauci) was when Brad Pitt played him on 'Saturday Night Live'," an anonymous former administration member allegedly told the Washington Post. "Trump really can’t stand it when you get bigger and more popular than him. . . . Getting you off TV is the way he brings you down."
However, other White House staff members refuted the claim, saying they had seen Trump joking with Fauci about being played by a Hollywood star. The medical veteran became a household name this spring after his regular appearances during the White House COVID-19 briefings, which saw the president tussle with reporters on a daily basis. However, Trump announced his plans to wind down the coronavirus task force that was set up to tackle the pandemic in May, after which immunologist Dr. Fauci and task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx made only occasional on-camera appearances.
According to The Post, Fauci only found about the president's plans to wind down the task force after he made a public announcement of the same.
Last month, Fauci announced he would indulge in some time outdoors hiking as he took a break from coronavirus for the Memorial Day weekend. He also encouraged Americans to head out, but only after taking necessary precautions and maintaining social distancing.
"(Trump’s) been over coronavirus for a long time," yet another anonymous Trump adviser allegedly told the newspaper, adding that the president is overly focused on getting the US economy back on track after over 40 million Americans lost their jobs amid the crisis -- making up nearly a sixth of the working population in the country.
According to The Post, Trump is "terrified" of losing November's presidential election to Democratic presumptive nominee Joe Biden. As reported by Metro, he will soon begin attacking the former vice president so he can distract his base from "the tanking economy and 100,000 Americans who have so-far died from coronavirus."
White House spokesman Hogan Gidley trashed the unfounded claims made against the president by the Jeff Bezos-owned paper.
"This great country has been faced with an unprecedented crisis," he said. "And while the Democrats, do-nothing pundits, and the media shamelessly try and destroy this President with a coordinated, relentless, biased political assault, President Trump has focused in on the pandemic and risen to fight it head-on by taking aggressive historic action to protect the health and well-being of the American people."
The novel coronavirus cases tally in the United States stands at over 1,831,821 as of Wednesday, June 3, while the number of deaths have been recorded at 106,181, according to Johns Hopkins University data. There is no known cure for the deadly virus, and no officially-approved vaccine is available in the world market as yet.