Then-President Donald Trump unloaded about Joe Biden and bombastically predicted he would beat his 2020 rival in a landslide in his expletive-laden last conversation with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases revealed in his memoir.
Trump called Fauci from Air Force One on Nov. 1, 2020 — just two days before the election — in “what turned out to be” their final exchange, Fauci wrote in “On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service,” which debuted Tuesday.
The Daily Beast and The New York Times shared excerpts from the book.
Trump reportedly boasted to Fauci: “I am going to win this election by a fucking landslide. Just wait and see. I always did things my way. And I always win, no matter what all these other fucking people think. And that fucker Biden. He is so fucking stupid. I am going to kick his fucking ass in this election.”
Trump lost the election, but continues to falsely claim it was stolen from him.
Fauci served as chief medical adviser to the Biden White House until his retirement in 2022.
In the same call, Fauci, who was the government’s lead adviser for its response to the coronavirus pandemic, said Trump condemned him for publicly stating America was still in “for a whole lot of hurt” from COVID-19.
Fauci also recalled his “first experience” of bearing the brunt of Trump’s rage during a call on June 3, 2020, when the then-president “started screaming at me” for correctly predicting immunity to coronavirus from vaccines would probably last six months to a year.
Trump was furious by the implication that booster shots would likely be required after the administration of initial vaccines, which had yet to be rolled out.
“It was quite a phone call,” Fauci said. “The president was irate, saying that I could not keep doing this to him. He said he loved me, but the country was in trouble, and I was making it worse.”
“I have a pretty thick skin but getting yelled at by the president of the United States, no matter how much he tells you that he loves you, is not fun,” he added.
Correction: An earlier version of this article stated Anthony Fauci’s book would be released next week. It was published Tuesday.
