Trump defends COVID-19 response as Fauci faces questions

President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended his handling of COVID-19, in particular, his efforts to swiftly develop a vaccine for the pandemic.

His comments come as Dr. Anthony Fauci faces questions from Senate lawmakers pursuant to the federal response to the outbreak. He has declined to answer questions by invoking the 5th Amendment.

"Many more people died of Covid under the Biden Administration than under the Trump Administration. 'Operation Warp Speed'  was a SPECTACULAR SUCCESS, in fact, many say, one of the most successful things ever done by an American President," he posted on Truth Social. "I overrode Fauci on this. His ideas were CRAZY!"

"Operation Warp Speed" was the Trump administration's initiative to develop a vaccine in coordination with private pharmaceutical firms.

"Also, I said from the beginning that the Virus came from the Wuhan Laboratory in China. Fauci strongly disagreed, always trying to protect China," Trump went on. "I Inherited Fauci, who was there since the 1980’s, but with each passing day, relied less and less on him. He made too many bad calls, like on MASKS."

Trump further insisted that he had opted for a state-by-state approach to the pandemic, allowing governors to make what they felt were appropriate decisions for their states.

"In any event I didn’t let him shut the Country down, although he wanted to. I went the Federalist way, and let the governors decide," Trump said. "The Republican governors did a much better job than the Dumocrats." 

Trump also accused former President Joe Biden of making Fauci a de facto king and of handing him "destructive" power.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.