Donald Trump calls Dr. Fauci 'an idiot' and a 'disaster' and says 'people are tired of COVID' during leaked call to campaign staff - and says he will do five rallies a day in days before election

President Donald Trump disparaged infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci on a call with campaign staff, tearing into experts as 'idiots' and saying Americans are 'tired of COVID.'

In an election upended by the coronavirus, the president vented about lockdowns and Fauci in particular, after the expert has expressed increasing frustration with the lack of direction on social distancing and mask wearing that Fauci says could save thousands of lives.

The foul-mouthed tirade came as U.S. coronavirus infections appeared to be experiencing another spike, with 220000 Americans dead of the disease already. 

'People are tired of Covid,' Trump said on the leaked call. 

President Donald Trump ripped Dr. Anthony Fauci and 'all these idiots' he says were wrong on the coronavirus. The president has started holding large outdoor rallies where his supporters are packed into outdoor airport hangar spaces

'People are tired of hearing Fauci and these idiots, all these idiots who got it wrong,' he said, going further than in public comments where he has undermined current health directives by pointing to indecision from experts early in the pandemic.

Trump called Fauci a 'disaster,' but revealed he believes he cannot fire him. 

'Every time he goes on television, there's always a bomb, but there's a bigger bomb if you fire him. This guy's a disaster,' Trump vented. 

'Fauci is a nice guy,' Trump said of the career civil servant, who has spent months cautioning Americans about avoiding large gatherings and indoor spaces through TV appearances. But complained: 'He's been here for 500 years.'

Fauci, 79, has spent decades advising U.S. presidents on disease outbreaks, and became a known public figure during the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic. 

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks alongside U.S. President Donald Trump at a press briefing with members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force on April 5, 2020 in Washington, DC. Fauci is no longer a regular at the White House and meetings have been cut back drastically

In this file photo taken on August 28, 2020 Campaign manager Bill Stepien stands alongside US President Donald Trump as he speaks with reporters aboard Air Force One as he flies from Manchester, New Hampshire to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, following a campaign rally

'I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask,' Fauci said of Trump coming down with the coronavirus

'If I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths,' Trump fumed about Fauci, without offering evidence. 

'People are saying whatever. Just leave us alone,' said the president, in the midst of a cross-country campaign tour that has featured a series of large rallies where attendees are not socially distanced and many eschew masks.

His attacks come amid dangerous trends for infections, deaths, and test positivity rates. The U.S. has been logging more than 50,000 infections a day, with numbers approaching mid-summer highs.

A host of reporters were on the call – a matter that Trump appeared to anticipate and brush off. 

'If there's a reporter on, you can have it just the way I said it, I couldn't care less,' he said. 

The New York Times and CNN were among those listening. 

Trump predicted victory but said he wouldn't have said that a few weeks ago

'We’re going to win. I wouldn’t have told you that maybe two or three weeks ago,' he said.

Democrats have been running up an advantage in early voting, and have built up a big fundraising advantage in recent months, but might turn out in large numbers on Election Day.  

Trump says he will hold as many as five rallies a day in the home stretch of the election, where polls show him trailing Joe Biden but Trump said he now views himself as likely to win.

''Don't feel sorry for me, don't say, 'How the hell does he do it?'' Trump said. 

He briefly jumped off the trail after being hospitalized for the coronavirus, but now says he is cured. 

Fauci heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases – a group Fauci revealed has drastically scaled back its meetings even as the pandemic rages on.

The U.S. death toll has topped 220,000. 

Trump's call-in to his staff featured some of the same grievances as his rallies and public comments, although with sharper language. He vented that the New York Times doesn't call him for comment, although he spoke to one of its reporters at length around the GOP convention.

'But our people don't read the New York Times. They couldn't give a s*** about it,' Trump said. 

Fauci has complained about getting muzzled by the White House and not being able to get his safety message out.

'You know, I think you'd have to be honest and say yes. I certainly have not been allowed to go on many, many, many shows that have asked for me.” 

He said it's 'sad' that a 'public health message to save lives triggers such venom and animosity to me that it results in real and credible threats to my life'

The attacks come fresh off Fauci's appearance on CBS '60 Minutes,' where Fauci said he was 'absolutely not' surprised the president contracted the disease after a packed Rose Garden event. 

'I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask,' Fauci said.

'When I saw that on TV, I said, 'Oh my goodness. Nothing good can come outta that, that's gotta be a problem'. And then sure enough, it turned out to be a superspreader event,' he said, of the White House event where Trump celebrated his nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett.

It turned out there were also indoor events at the White House where guests mingled without masks.

Fauci also pushed back at Trump's criticism of him for not advocating masks early in the pandemic. 

'So let's see if we could put this to rest once and for all,' Fauci told the show that aired Sunday. 'It became clear that cloth coverings, things like this here, and not necessarily a surgical mask or an N95, cloth coverings, work.' 

'So now there's no longer a shortage of masks. Number two, meta-analysis studies show that, contrary to what we thought, masks really do work in preventing infection.'

Fauci in the episode was pictured with his security detail, which he was forced to get in April after getting threats.  

Trump has increasingly turned for advice to Dr. Scott Atlas, who is not an infectious disease expert and who has made controversial comments in interviews about 'herd' immunity. 

 

Trump says US would be 'massive depression' if he listened to experts

President pitted the election as a 'Trump super-recovery' versus a 'Biden depression' at rally in Nevada

President pitted the election as a 'Trump super-recovery' versus a 'Biden depression' at rally in Nevada

Meanwhile his infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci said he was 'absolutely not' surprised Trump got ill

Meanwhile his infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci said he was 'absolutely not' surprised Trump got ill

Fauci told 60 Minutes that he was worried Trump would get sick after seeing the maskless crowd at the White House last month for the Amy Coney Barrett event

Fauci told 60 Minutes that he was worried Trump would get sick after seeing the maskless crowd at the White House last month for the Amy Coney Barrett event

The US is currently averaging about 55,000 cases per day after rising steadily since mid-September 

The US is currently averaging about 55,000 cases per day after rising steadily since mid-September 

Deaths, however, are not increasing and have been averaging about 700 fatalities per day for a month

Deaths, however, are not increasing and have been averaging about 700 fatalities per day for a month

The current death rate, which is a lagging and can potentially rise several weeks after cases increase, is well below the April peak of nearly 2,000 fatalities a day

The current death rate, which is a lagging and can potentially rise several weeks after cases increase, is well below the April peak of nearly 2,000 fatalities a day

Nationwide hospitalizations have been increasing this month, which have been driven mostly by Midwestern states where infections have been surging 

Nationwide hospitalizations have been increasing this month, which have been driven mostly by Midwestern states where infections have been surging 

Some health experts have been warning that the US is heading into its 'darkest hour of the pandemic' given cases are surging across the country 

Some health experts have been warning that the US is heading into its 'darkest hour of the pandemic' given cases are surging across the country 

Donald Trump has said the US would be in a 'massive depression' if he had listened to the scientists on coronavirus while Dr Anthony Fauci told an interviewer he was 'absolutely not' surprised Trump had fallen ill from the virus.

As the president pitted the election as a 'Trump super-recovery' versus a 'Biden depression' at a rollicking rally in Nevada on Sunday, his top epidemiologist told 60 Minutes that Amy Coney Barrett's bash at the White House was a 'super-spreader event'. 

When asked if he was surprised that Trump tested positive for Covid-19 after the Rose Garden event, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said: 'Absolutely not'.   

'I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask. 

'When I saw that on TV, I said, 'Oh my goodness. Nothing good can come outta that, that's gotta be a problem'. And then sure enough, it turned out to be a superspreader event.' 

Fauci's analysis comes as Trump held another campaign rally in Nevada, telling his supporters that if former Vice President Biden makes it into the Oval Office: 'He's gonna lock down. This guy wants to lock down.'

'He'll listen to the scientists. If I listened totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression, instead we're like a rocket ship. Take a look at the numbers.'

Cases are currently increasing across the US and have now surpassed 8.1 million. The death toll, which has remained steady this month after declining since August, is currently at more than 219,000.    

Donald Trump told his supporters at a rally in Nevada on Sunday that the US would be in a 'massive depression' if he had listened to the scientists on coronavirus. He said that if former Vice President Biden makes it into the Oval Office: 'He's gonna lock down. This guy wants to lock down'

Dr Anthony Fauci told 60 Minutes on Sunday that he wasn't surprised President Trump tested positive for Covid-19 after seeing the crowds of people at the Amy Coney Barrett event at the White House last month 

Health experts have been warning that the US is heading into its 'darkest hour of the pandemic' as the number of cases continue to surge to levels not seen since July. The US is currently averaging about 55,000 cases per day after rising steadily since mid-September. 

Deaths, however, are not increasing and have been averaging about 700 fatalities per day for more than a month. The current death rate, which is a lagging and can potentially rise several weeks after cases increase, is well below the April peak of nearly 2,000 fatalities a day. 

Nationwide hospitalizations have been increasing this month, which have been driven mostly by Midwestern states where infections have been surging. 

Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, gave a grim prognosis on Sunday night, saying he didn't share Trump's optimism about the virus.

Nearly 70,000 new cases were reported nationwide on Friday, which is the highest level since July during the summer peak. 

Osterholm said that figure was worrying and perhaps a sign of things to come, despite many arguing that this is a a result of increased testing capacity.

'Friday we had 70,000 cases, matching the largest number we had seen back during the really serious peak in July. That number... we're going to blow right through that. And between now and the holidays we will see numbers much much larger,' Osterholm said.  

'We're not telling the full story. We do have vaccines and therapeutics coming down the pike, but when you look at the time period for that, the next six to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the pandemic,' he told NBC.

'Vaccines will not become available in any meaningful way until early to third quarter of next year. And even then, about half of the US population at this point is skeptical of even taking the vaccine.' 

Osterholm blamed the skepticism on a 'major problem in messaging.' He argued that Americans don't have a 'lead' or 'consolidated' voice to guide them through the pandemic at the moment. 

'People don't know what to believe, and that's one of our huge challenges going forward that we've got to get a message to the public that reflects the science and reflects reality,' Osterholm said. 

Although the White House emerged as a solid front when it enacted the coronavirus task force back in January, the facade slowly waned as Trump ignored health experts' guidelines and dissenting voices entered civil discourse.  

Trump and Fauci have publicly bumped heads over various issues before, although his latest remarks about the 'super-spreader' White House event are perhaps the starkest example to date.

Fauci also admitted in his 60 Minutes interview that the White House had restricted his media appearances throughout the pandemic. 

'You know, I think you'd have to be honest and say yes. I certainly have not been allowed to go on many, many, many shows that have asked for me.' 

However, Fauci did take the same line as Trump when asked if he would recommend another full lockdown for the nation, saying: 'Things would have to get really, really bad' before that was suggested. 

'First of all, the country is fatigued with restrictions. So we want to use public health measures, not to get in the way of opening the economy, but to being a safe gateway to opening the economy,' Fauci said. 

'Those measures were not in place last month in the rose garden when President Trump announced the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.'  

He went on to state that Americans have more than two choices and do not have to decide between a complete shutdown or an unmitigated reopening of the economy. 

Instead, he claims, Americans should implement public health measures as they try to resume life as normal, even with the threat of the virus lingering.  

'Let's put 'shutdown' away and say, 'We're going to use public health measures to help us safely get to where we want to go'', he said.  

Masks were not widespread at Trump's Nevada rally to prevent the spread of COVID-19. And Trump warned that Biden would be more heavy-handed in dealing with the virus, which continues to see new spikes. 'If he comes in, Carson City will become a ghosttown,' Trump warned. 'The Christmas season will be cancelled'

Trump pictured waving a fist as he arrived for the raucous rally at Carson City Airport in Carson City, Nevada where attendees did not social distance

Trump ended his rally boasting 'With your help, your devotion and your drive we're going to keep on winning, winning, winning!' as attendees joined in his chant

An attendee shield himself from the sun with an American flag-themed jacket during a campaign rally for President Donald Trump on Sunday in Carson City

FAUCI SAYS HE'S GOT  SECURITY AFTER DEATH THREATS 

Dr Anthony Fauci says he is now accompanied by a security team when he is out in public because of the death threats he has received amid the Covid-19 pandemic. 

He was joined by his wife Dr Christine Grady, a bioethicist at the National Institutes of Health, for the 60 Minutes interview. 

The couple said the threats and harassment their family has faced has been draining. 

Fauci is now accompanied by federal agents when he goes out - even when he's exercising. 

'The very fact that a public health message to save lives triggers such venom and animosity to me that it results in real and credible threats to my life and my safety. But it bothers me less than the hassling of my wife and my children,' he said. 

When asked what frustrated him the most, Fauci's wife said: 'The fact that, you know, the same message has to sort of be reiterated over and over again because either people don't hear it, or they don't believe it, or they don't adopt it.'   

Dr Anthony Fauci, above with wife Christine, says he is now accompanied by a security team (pictured behind the couple) when he is out in public because of the death threats he has received amid the Covid-19 pandemic

Once an avid runner, Dr. Anthony Fauci, now 79, power walks. Since receiving death threats, he is now accompanied by a security detail. https://t.co/lbtcL5htQS pic.twitter.com/Q3KG0kV0rV

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 18, 2020

Once an avid runner, Dr. Anthony Fauci, now 79, power walks. Since receiving death threats, he is now accompanied by a security detail. https://t.co/lbtcL5htQS pic.twitter.com/Q3KG0kV0rV

Fauci has been advocating for public health measures, including social distancing and mask wearing, for several months.  

In his 60 Minutes interview, Fauci addressed his advice from early in the pandemic when he urged Americans not to wear masks because he was concerned there would be a shortage before changing tune about a month later.

That conflicting advice was seized on by Trump during the presidential debate. 

'It became clear that cloth coverings... and not necessarily a surgical mask or an N95, cloth coverings, work. So now there's no longer a shortage of masks. Meta-analysis studies show that, contrary to what we thought, masks really do work in preventing infection,' Fauci said. 

'When you find out you're wrong, it's a manifestation of your honesty to say, 'Hey, I was wrong. I did subsequent experiments and now it's this way.'  

Fauci has also blasted other experts who say measures like mask wearing should be put to the side so that the disease can spread in order to achieve herd immunity. 

Trump's more laissez faire approach to eradicating the pandemic clashed with Fauci, who repeatedly called for Americans to adhere to social distancing and emphasized the importance of face masks. 

The pair's most recent disagreement came over herd immunity, which was reportedly proposed to Trump by medical adviser Scott Atlas.

Several health experts have dismissed herd immunity as a viable solution, including Fauci, who called it 'total nonsense,' as well as 'scientifically and ethically problematic.'

Fauci said in a GMA interview last week: 'If you just let things rip and let the infection go - no masks, crowds - that quite frankly is ridiculous. 

'What that will do is there will be so many people in the community that you can't shelter, that you can't protect, who are going to get sick and get serious consequences. 

'If you talk to anybody who has any experience in epidemiology and infectious diseases they'll tell you it's risky and you'll wind up with many more infections of vulnerable people, which will lead to hospitalizations and deaths.

'I think we've got to look that square in the eye and say it's nonsense.' 

In Nevada Sunday, Trump kept the focus on Biden's 'corruption' and the latest in the Hunter Biden saga, referring to the 'laptop from hell.' 

'This is the most boring human being I've ever seen,' Trump said of Biden, while also claiming he was running a 'criminal enterprise' alongside his son. 

'The Bidens make 'crooked' Hillary Clinton look like an absolute amateur,' Trump said, using a throwback insult from his successful 2016 campaign.  

Pointing a finger at Hunter, Trump said, 'This guy's a vacuum cleaner,' alleging he was sucking up tons of foreign money.   

'I call him the human vacuum cleaner,' the president said to cheers and applause from the crowd of several thousand watching the president in the hot Nevada sun. 

The crowd started chanting 'lock him up!' referring to Biden and his son.  

President Donald Trump appeared at a campaign rally Sunday afternoon in Carson City, Nevada 16 days before the presidential election where he slammed the Biden's as 'crooked', his opponent Joe Biden as 'boring' and boasted 'the best is yet to come'

A woman dressed up in Native American costume awaits the arrival of President Donald Trump in Carson City, Nevada Sunday 

President Donald Trump's supporters get ready for the president's arrival in Carson City, Nevada Sunday 

'So a giant trove of emails show Hunter Biden making deals, setting up deals with his father Joe,' Trump said at one point. The alleged emails included one that alluded to a meeting between Joe Biden and Vadym Pozharsky an adviser for the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, where Hunter Biden served on the board. However, the Biden campaign says the meeting did not occur.

'They're corrupt people. But Joe Biden is from a failed and corrupt political class,' Trump reiterated in his fired up speech. 

Trump has been having a field day over a New York Post report that is supposed to be proof that Biden was in on his son Hunter's foreign business deals while he was serving as President Barack Obama's vice president. 

The emails were allegedly found on a laptop left at a shop with a copy of the harddrive given to Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. 

Federal authorities are now investigating whether the emails were connected to a foreign intelligence operation in a bid to sway the election.

The president called it the 'laptop from hell.' 

'So a giant trove of emails show Hunter Biden making deals, setting up deals with his father Joe,' Trump said at one point. 

'Joe's getting a piece of everything,' Trump, at another moment, alleged. 

The alleged emails included one that alluded to a meeting between Joe Biden and Vadym Pozharsky an adviser for the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, where Hunter Biden served on the board. 

However, the Biden campaign says the meeting did not occur. 

A large crowd gathered outdoors to hear US President Donald Trump speak at Carson City Airport in Carson City, Nevada

Supporters pictured cheering on Trump as he spoke during the campaign rally

Trump staffers handed out MAGA face masks to attendees at the rally, just 16 days ahead of the presidential election

A group of Trump supporters hold up a photo of a young child saying he's a Trump fan

Twitter removed 'misleading' tweet from Dr. Scott Atlas

 By Valerie Edwards for DailyMail.com

Twitter has removed a 'misleading' tweet from White House adviser Dr Scott Atlas who claimed that masks don't work.

In the tweet shared on Saturday, Atlas wrote: 'Masks work? No.'

Atlas, who has been on the coronavirus task force since the pandemic began in the US, then used examples of areas where he said 'cases exploded even with mandates'.

Atlas included the following locations in the tweet: Los Angeles, Miami, Hawaii, Alabama, France, Philippines, United Kingdom, Spain and Israel.

Masks and facial coverings are used to prevent people who have the virus from infecting others.

A Twitter spokesperson told CNN that the tweet was removed because it violated the company's Covid-19 Misleading Information Policy.

Twitter said that Atlas violated the policy that prohibits users from sharing false or misleading content related to the pandemic that could lead to harm.

 In recent weeks, several states have shown an increase in COVID-19 infections.

On Friday, the US reported 69,100 new cases in a single day. The number hasn't been that high since July 29 when 71,300 cases were reported in a day. 

Atlas's remarks come just a month after NBC News reportedly overheard CDC Director Robert Redfield suggesting in a conversation with a colleague that Atlas is arming Trump with misleading data about masks and other issues. 

On this three-day swing, Nevada was the only swing state that tilted toward the Democrats in 2016, with 47.9 per cent of voters in the state picking Clinton and 45.5 for Trump. 

On Saturday he did back-to-back rallies in Michigan and Wisconsin. And on Monday, Trump will do another two rallies in Arizona, a state that he won in 2016, but looks ripe for the Democrats' picking.  

The president woke up Sunday at his Las Vegas hotel and attended church services at the International Church of Las Vegas before jetting off to Orange County, California for several hours to raise money for his campaign 16 days before the presidential election.  

The Democrats and Biden have far outraised the Republican National Committee and Trump in August and September.  

In Carson City, the president suggested the Democrats were cheating - and their fundraising was like a 'quid pro quo,' aiming the comment at Biden. 

Trump's impeachment revolved around whether there was a 'quid pro quo' when the president held up military aid to Ukraine to pressure the country's president to announce investigations into Hunter and Joe Biden.    

Upon landing in Reno, Nevada, Trump gave reporters a quick update on the on-again, off-again stimulus talks taking place back in Washington, D.C. 

'I think Nancy Pelosi maybe is coming along we'll find out,' Trump said. 'Want to do it at a bigger number than she wants. That doesn't mean all the Republicans agree with me but I think they will in the end if she would go along, I think they would too, on stimulus.' 

'So we'll see what happens,' Trump added.   

That didn't stop Trump from attacking the House speaker at the Carson City event, making fun of her for not wanting his 'wall' but living in a gating community and eating fancy ice cream. 

He also suggested Pelosi's recent talk about the 25th Amendment, which came after the president was hospitalized with the coronavirus, was actually so Democrats can dispose of Biden for his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, should they win. 

'Biden is gone-zo,' Trump said, a reference to the 77-year-old's age. ''Can you imagine having Kamala?' he added, calling her the most liberal member of Congress.  

The president also hit out at some Congressional Republicans, like GOP Sen. Ben Sasse, who was extremely critical of the president on a call with constituents. 

'We have some stupid people, you know,' Trump said. 

'Now we have this guy Sasse. He wants to make a statement. Little Ben Sasse,' Trump jabbed. 'Republicans needs to stick together better.' 

Trump ended his rally boasting, 'The best is yet to come'. 

'Proud citizens like you helped build this country and together we're taking back this country. So with your help, your devotion and your drive we're going to keep on winning, winning, winning!' he said as attendees joined in his chant.  

Masks were not widespread at Trump's Nevada rally to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

And Trump warned that Biden would be more heavy-handed in dealing with the virus, which continues to see new spikes.  

'If he comes in, Carson City will become a ghosttown,' Trump warned. 'The Christmas season will be cancelled.'