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Fauci said he wanted to go on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show for 'months' but was 'blocked' under Trump administration

Taylor Ardrey
·3 min read
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  • Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top disease expert, said he was "blocked" under the Trump administration from going on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow" show.

  • "I've been wanting to come on your show for months and months," Fauci told Maddow Friday.

  • Fauci has openly expressed his feelings about working under Biden compared to when he previously worked on the coronavirus task force under Trump.

  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Related: How viruses like the coronavirus mutate

Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical advisor, said that he could not go on "The Rachel Maddow Show," as he was "blocked" from doing so under the Trump administration.

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"I've been wanting to come on your show for months and months. You've been asking me to come on your show for months and months," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious, told Maddow in an interview Friday. "And it's just gotten blocked. Let's call it what it is. It just got blocked because they didn't like the way you handle things, and they didn't want me on."

Trump had repeatedly attacked MSNBC and its reporters during his presidency, even mocking a reporter who had been shot by police with a rubber bullet at anti-racism protests last May.

Fauci said that health officials would be more present and available to the media under Biden's new administration.

"I think you're going to see a lot of transparency," Fauci said. "You might not see everyone as often as you want, but you're not going to see deliberate holding back of good people when the press asks for them."

A day before Biden's inauguration, the nation's top disease expert said serving in Trump's administration was " somewhat awkward." At the start of the pandemic in the US, Fauci was reportedly barred from speaking publicly about COVID-19 without approval. When he later warned against lifting lockdown measures too soon, Fauci disappeared from TV appearances.