© 2026 ABC News

Republicans backing Trump have also begun to publicly criticize Fauci, urging the president to focus on the economy instead of listening to the public health experts, Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, both doctors with decades of research working for the government to combat infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS.

Over the weekend, Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs and Colorado Rep. Ken Buck, both Republicans, blasted Fauci for describing the economic impacts of coronavirus as \"inconveniences.\" Both are members of the House Freedom Caucus -- the conservative group founded by current White House chief of staff Mark Meadows while he was in Congress. Biggs replaced Meadows as the group's chair last year.

\"Fauci and his team of experts deserve some credit for mitigating the spread of this virus. But they should no longer be the primary voices at the table. Fauci and Birx have indicated pretty strongly that they do not consider the greater needs of the country,\" the Republican legislators argued.

Fauci's original comment was from late March, when he implored Americans to have hope and get through the crisis in an interview on CNN.

“We do believe it’s working. It’s hard. It’s not an easy thing to do,” Fauci said of the social distancing guidelines implemented by the White House. “There’s suffering and there’s death and there’s massive inconvenience economically and otherwise. But we’re really a strong nation. We’ve been through some amazing things in our history.”

It's not the first time the science guiding Fauci has led him to directly and publicly counter with the president — a leader who has fired or forced out dozens of administration officials who have contradicted him or seemed to steal his spotlight. But Trump has repeatedly publicly denied that there is any tension between the two men, as he did on Monday.

Asked on Monday why Trump had then retweeted someone who used a #FireFauci hashtag, he said, “I retweet somebody. I don’t know. Someone said they thought I was going to fire him. I am not going to fire him.\"

“If I put somebody's opinion up, you know, I do not mind controversy. I think controversy is a good thing, not a bad thing. But I want it to be honest controversy,” he said.

In insisting he doesn’t have any plans to fire the nation’s top infectious disease expert – despite his retweet of a tweet that called for just that -- Trump said they are on the same page and that he likes Fauci.

But the president qualified that his professed admiration for Fauci is not shared by all.

“Not everybody is happy with Anthony, not everybody is happy with everybody. I will tell you we have done a job the likes of which nobody has done. The mobilization, getting of equipment. Nobody has ever done a job like this,” Trump said.

ABC News' Allison Pecorin, Elizabeth Thomas, Jordyn Phelps, Benjamin Siegel and Libby Cathey contributed to this report.

","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/Politics/faucis-gop-critics-pressuring-trump-advising-reopening-economy/story?id=70120677","legacySlug":"/news/story/faucis-gop-critics-pressuring-trump-advising-reopening-economy-70120677","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"23:59","publishDate":"04-13-2020","updatedTime":"09:10","updatedDate":"04-15-2020","socialImage":{"alt":"Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens during a Coronavirus Task Force briefing at the White House, in Washington, April 10, 2020.","credit":"Kevin Dietsch/POOL/EPA via Shutterstock","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Politics/fauci-whitehouse-briefing-sh-rc-200410_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"4/13/2020 23:59:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":70120677,"headline":"Fauci's GOP critics pressuring Trump ","mediaAssetTitle":"TRUMP AND THE ATTACK FAUCI EFFORT","description":"Despite retweeting a #FireFauci hashtag, Trump said he's not firing him.","duration":"3:02","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/04/200413_wn_moran_641_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["132055565","131830882","130993584"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"video","date":"April 15, 2026","headline":"American influencer found dead in Tanzania","section":"News","slug":"/video/132055565","id":"132055565","image":{"alt":"VIDEO: American influencer found dead in Tanzania","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260415_gma_norwood_ashlee2_732_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","width":384,"height":384},"images":{"alt":"VIDEO: American influencer found dead in Tanzania","credit":"ABCNews.com","crops":[{"16x9":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260415_gma_norwood_ashlee2_732_hpMain_16x9_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260415_gma_norwood_ashlee2_732_hpMain_16x9_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260415_gma_norwood_ashlee2_732_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"9x16":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260415_gma_norwood_ashlee2_732_hpMain_9x16_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260415_gma_norwood_ashlee2_732_hpMain_9x16_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260415_gma_norwood_ashlee2_732_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"1x1":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260415_gma_norwood_ashlee2_732_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260415_gma_norwood_ashlee2_732_hpMain_1x1_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260415_gma_norwood_ashlee2_732_hpMain_1x1_1600.jpg"}}]}},{"contentType":"video","date":"April 8, 2026","headline":"Ceasefire analysis, unanswered questions ahead","section":"News","slug":"/video/131830882","id":"131830882","image":{"alt":"VIDEO: Ceasefire analysis, unanswered questions ahead","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","width":384,"height":384},"images":{"alt":"VIDEO: Ceasefire analysis, unanswered questions ahead","credit":"ABCNews.com","crops":[{"16x9":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_16x9_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_16x9_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"9x16":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_9x16_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_9x16_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"1x1":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_1x1_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_1x1_1600.jpg"}}]}},{"contentType":"video","date":"March 12, 2026","headline":"Winter whiplash plunges temperatures along the East Coast","section":"News","slug":"/video/130993584","id":"130993584","image":{"alt":"VIDEO: Winter whiplash plunges temperatures along the East Coast","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","width":384,"height":384},"images":{"alt":"VIDEO: Winter whiplash plunges temperatures along the East Coast","credit":"ABCNews.com","crops":[{"16x9":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_16x9_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_16x9_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"9x16":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_9x16_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_9x16_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"1x1":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_1x1_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_1x1_1600.jpg"}}]}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"Fauci's GOP critics pressuring Trump ","description":"Despite retweeting a #FireFauci hashtag, Trump said he's not firing him.","duration":"3:02","uploadDate":"04-13-2020","publication":"04-13-2020","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/04/200413_wn_moran_641_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/04/200413_wn_moran_641_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/faucis-gop-critics-pressuring-trump-advising-reopening-economy-70120677"}},"playlist":[{"id":"132054443","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054798","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132033010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131912713","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131830583","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131834976","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554765","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554815","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131543053","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131432442","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131121474","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131247079","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131228784","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131178806","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131142257","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131046664","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131048076","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131033212","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"130999943","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"130971027","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:news:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"news","title":"Fauci's GOP critics pressuring Trump ","pubTime":"19:59","pubDate":"04-13-2020","modTime":"05:10","modDate":"04-15-2020","taxonomyTags":"none","id":70120677,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"Fauci's GOP critics pressuring Trump ","mediaAssetTitle":"TRUMP AND THE ATTACK FAUCI EFFORT","videoId":70120677,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/news/story/faucis-gop-critics-pressuring-trump-advising-reopening-economy-70120677"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/70120677","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/70120677","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};