WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump has praised Dr Anthony Fauci as a"major television star." He has tried to demonstrate that the administration is giving him free rein to speak. And he has deferred to Dr Fauci's opinion several times at the coronavirus task force's televised briefings.
When Mr Trump knows that he has more to gain than to lose by keeping an adviser, he has resisted impulses to fight back against apparent criticism, sometimes for months long interludes. One example was when he wanted to fire the White House counsel, Mr Donald McGahn, in 2017 and early 2018. Another was Mr Jeff Sessions, the former attorney-general. Mr Trump eventually fired both when he felt the danger in doing so had passed.
Dr Fauci and Mr Trump have publicly disagreed on how long it will take for a coronavirus vaccine to become available and whether an anti-malaria drug, chloroquine, could help those with an acute form of the virus. Dr Fauci has made clear that he does not think the drug necessarily holds the potential that Mr Trump says it does.
"The president has heard, as we all have heard, what are what I call anecdotal reports that certain drugs work. So what he was trying to do and express was the hope that if they might work, let's try and push their usage," Dr Fauci said.