'I made Tony Fauci a star.' Donald Trump phones friends to ask what they think of nation's top coronavirus expert after he said lives could have been saved by an earlier lockdown

Donald Trump spent his Easter weekend calling advisers and asking them their opinion on Anthony Fauci, claiming he made the government's top immunologist a 'star' in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

'What do you think of Fauci?' Trump repeatedly questioned during his phone calls the past few days, three people familiar with the conversations told the Daily Beast.

At one point, a source revealed, Trump said he made Fauci a 'star' by making him such a prominent voice of the White House coronavirus task force.

'He did not sound bitter about it, I wouldn't say that,' one person familiar with the comments said. 'It just sounded like he thought it was worth a reminder.'

Fauci often appears alongside the president in nearly-daily press briefings and goes on network television for interviews regarding the administrations' response to the outbreak in the U.S.

The 79-year-old is an immunologist and the leading expert on infectious disease at the National Institute of Health – he was brought on earlier this year to serve on the White House's task force tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump said during one of his calls, however, that barely anybody would have known who Fauci is if it were not for him putting the doctor front and center in the administration's coronavirus response and televised press briefings.

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Donald Trump called close advisers and allies over the Easter weekend to ask their opinion Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top immunologist on the White House coronavirus task force

Trump said in one call, according to a source familiar with the conversations, that he made Fauci a 'star' but putting him at the forefront of televised press briefings

Trump retweets call to fire Fauci after slow shutdown dispute

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During the president's calls with informal advisers, industry allies and current staff over the weekend, he also asked advice on when he should reopen the country.

Trump set a new self-imposed deadline of May 1 to end lockdowns and get the country back up and running and kickstart the fluctuating economy.

At the end of last month, the administration extended its lockdown and social distancing guidelines for another 30 days after first implementing them for the last 15 days of March.

If the guidelines are lifted April 30, instead of extended again, Trump's deadline will stay true.

But as experts expect the death toll and number of cases to spike this week, many are hesitant to say if they feel that the May 1 deadline will be able to be honored.

As of Monday, more than 22,000 people in the U.S. died from coronavirus and the number of confirmed cases surpassed 561,000, which is more than any other nation has reported – although there are concerns some countries are fudging the numbers.

The timing of when to reopen the country has been a hot topic in the ranks of the Trump administration as the president pushes to do so as soon as possible and other health experts warn of prematurely reopening leading to a resurgence of the disease.

Trump also created more confusion Monday when he said it wasn't up to the states to decide when they will reopen and said it was on the federal government for when lockdowns and stay-at-home orders would be lifted.

Thousands of small businesses have shuttered in the wake of the pandemic and millions of Americans have lost their job or been furloughed.

Unemployment reached an all-time-high with more than 15 million claims filed to receive the benefits in the last three weeks.

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Fauci said Sunday that if the administration had done more to mitigate coronavirus sooner, less people would have died

The spike in unemployment and struggling stock markets come as the nation was experiencing some of the lowest levels of unemployment ever under Trump.

Fauci also claimed Sunday morning that it would have been better if Trump decided to issue lockdown and social distancing guidelines earlier – claiming it would have saved many Americans' lives.

He told CNN, however, that 'there was a lot of pushback about shutting things down' when he recommended it.

'As I have said many times, we look at it from a pure health standpoint,' Fauci told CNN's Jake Tapper Sunday morning. 'We make a recommendation. Often, the recommendation is taken. Sometimes, it's not.'

'But it is what it is,' he continued. 'We are where we are right now.'

These comments were widely shared as the immunologist criticizing the president, which sparked Trump to retweet a post calling for Fauci's firing.