Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, views Vice President Mike Pence as “truly decent” and “very smart,” he said in a recent interview.
Speaking by email to the Washington Post in an interview published Monday, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director spoke glowingly of his relationship with Pence, who chairs the coronavirus task force.
The vice president, Fauci said, is “a truly decent person, and very smart, who is trying to do his best in a very difficult and fluid situation.”
The NIAID director went on to describe Pence as “an optimist” and a “glass half full type of person” who always presents the “optimistic” side of issues to President Trump.
Despite that optimism, Fauci said, Pence never kept him from sharing the “darker side” of a problem with the commander-in-chief.
Fauci, who has served as NIAID director since 1984, self-deprecatingly told the newspaper, “I am sometimes referred to as ‘the skunk at the picnic.’
AFP via Getty Images“But Pence never directly asks me, the skunk, to be quiet or leave,” he added.
“Some may say that Pence and his team are ‘too ideological’ but they are after all political people. This is not unexpected.”
As a member of the White House coronavirus task force, Fauci has maintained that he has a generally positive working relationship with Trump and others on the team.
When Peter Navarro, Trump’s top trade adviser, wrote a blistering op-ed about Fauci last month over his handling of the virus, the White House denied any involvement, telling The Post at the time, “Navarro went rogue and the White House does not stand by these unauthorized opinions.”
The day the op-ed was published, the commander-in-chief was asked by reporters in the Oval Office about how he worked with the US’ top infectious disease expert.
“I get along very well with Dr. Fauci. I have a very good relationship with Dr. Fauci,” he said.
Pence shared similar feelings while speaking to reporters on a campaign press call that day.
“Dr. Tony Fauci is a valued member of the White House coronavirus task force. We just completed our latest meeting today, and we couldn’t be more grateful for his steady counsel as we continue to meet this moment with a whole-of-government approach, a whole-of-America approach,” he said.
