Donald Trump has been obsessively and furiously watching Dr. Anthony Fauci's TV interviews since President Joe Biden took office according to several publications like the Daily Beast.
Fauci has been transparent about his relief to be working under a new administration, saying at a White House press briefing on Thursday that it was "a somewhat liberating feeling."
While Fauci wasn't afraid of contradicting Trump's misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic, he never openly criticized him as a siting president.
But the kid gloves are off.
Fauci told CNN on Friday that Trump "very likely" cost American lives by spreading lies about the pandemic. He also told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow that he had tried to come on her show for months but was blocked by the Trump administration.
He told The New York Times over the weekend that Trump and top White House advisors would sometimes call him after an interview asking why he didn't give a more "positive" outlook on the pandemic or why he contradicted Trump's claims.
The Daily Beast, citing two sources, reported that Trump had been closely watching Fauci's media tour from his new home at Mar-a-Lago, whining about how "incompetent" Fauci was and how he should have fired the infectious-disease expert when he had the chance.
(Trump, in fact, did not have the power to directly fire Fauci because he is a civil-service employee and not a political appointee.)
The Daily Beast reported that Trump was angry that he couldn't tweet about Fauci, as his Twitter account was permanently suspended in the wake of the Capitol riot.
"He very much feels that a lot of people are working to downgrade his legacy out of hatred for him," one source told The Daily Beast.
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