Trump retweets #FireFauci after top immunologist said lives would have been saved if President had followed his advice to shut US down in February

Donald Trump hit out at Dr Anthony Fauci Sunday night by retweeting a #FireFauci hashtag after the nation's top immunologist said his recommendation for a US shut down in February was ignored.

The President also wrote that he had banned flights from China 'long before people spoke up', seemingly in response to the criticism.

Trump retweeted a post from former congressional candidate DeAnna Lorraine who wrote: 'Fauci is now saying that had Trump listened to the medical experts earlier he could've saved more lives. 

'Fauci was telling people on February 29th that there was nothing to worry about and it posed no threat to the US public at large. Time to #FireFauci.'  

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President Donald Trump hit out at at Dr Anthony Fauci by retweeting the #FireFauci hashtag (pictured) Sunday night, just hours after the nation's top immunologist said he received a lot of pushback for recommending a United States shutdown in February

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Trump's (right) apparent dig at Fauci (left) came just hours after the doctor suggested Sunday morning that more lives could have been saved if Trump had initiated a coronavirus shutdown earlier than mid-March

In a second tweet Trump slammed The New York Times for a piece published in the newspaper on Saturday that claims the president repeatedly played down the seriousness of the virus and had been warned about it multiple times by top White House officials. 

'The @nytimes story is a Fake, just like the “paper” itself. I was criticized for moving too fast when I issued the China Ban, long before most others wanted to do so,' Trump tweeted.  

The president then wrote: ''@SecAzar told me nothing until later, and Peter Navarro memo was same as Ban (see his statements). Fake News!' the president added.  

Trump stated that Health Secretary Alex Azar only warned him after he had imposed the China ban at the end of January. 

However, it has been reported that Azar briefed him on January 18 while the President was at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida - but Trump kept interrupting because he was more interested in vaping measures. 

Trump also said imposed the China ban after senior White House aide Peter Navarro issued a memo in January accurately outlining how bad the pandemic would be.

But he failed to mention a second memo Navarro issued in February that painted an even worse picture. Trump has been accused of not taking that seriously.    

On January 30, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the virus a global health emergency while Trump held a packed campaign rally in Iowa. 

The next day, the Trump administration banned admittance to the US by foreign nationals who had traveled to China in the past 14 days, excluding the immediate family members of American citizens or permanent residents.

Trump styled it as bold action, but continued to talk down the severity of the threat. Despite the ban, nearly 40,000 people have arrived in the US on direct flights from China since that date, according to an analysis by The New York Times.

The president's dig at Fauci came just hours after the doctor suggested Sunday morning that more lives could have been saved if Trump had initiated a coronavirus shutdown earlier than mid-March.

Fauci said more could have been done that would have potentially slowed the spread and lessened the ramifications of the coronavirus outbreak in the US.

'Obviously you could logically say that if you had a process that was ongoing and you started mitigation earlier you could've saved lives, obviously,' Fauci told CNN's State of the Union.

'No-one is going to deny that,' he continued, but added 'there was a lot of pushback about shutting things down back then'.

There are several reports that intelligence officials told the White House that there was a virus threat coming from China as early as November, indicating that the president knew about coronavirus sooner than he let on. 

'You know, Jake, as I have said many times, we look at it from a pure health standpoint,' Fauci told CNN's Jake Tapper. '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.' 

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Trump also claimed that he was 'criticized for moving too fast when I issued the China Ban, long before most others wanted to do so'

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The president said that Alex Azar, the US Secretary of Health and Human Services 'told me nothing until later'

During a task force meeting in the Situation Room in March, Trump proposed to Fauci that they just let the coronavirus 'wash over' the US, instead of issuing a strong federal response, according to a report from The Washington Post. 

Two sources familiar with the meeting told the Post that the conversation happened the same day the administration was adding Ireland and the United Kingdom to its travel restrictions.

'Why don't we let this wash over the country?' Trump asked of Fauci, the sources claimed.

Trump was asking the immunologist why a 'herd immunity' was a bad idea.

If the US took a 'herd immunity' approach, it would allow coronavirus to sweep across nation with the belief that those who survived would then be immune to the disease.

'Mr President, many people would die,' Fauci said, according to the two people in the meeting. 

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Fauci (right, on CNN's State of the Union) said more could have been done that would have potentially slowed the spread and lessened the ramifications of the coronavirus outbreak in the US

So far, more than 22,000 people died in the US after contracting coronavirus and there are more than 561,000 cases as of Sunday evening. 

Trump often lauds his response to the pandemic, praising his administration for cutting off travel from China early on in the outbreak.

The president also continues to push for the reopening of the country as soon as possible to kickstart a suffering economy.

Unemployment levels reached an all-time-high as more than 15 million new applications for benefits were submitted in the past few weeks as non-essential businesses shut down and several companies went through rounds of layoffs.

The task force initially rolled out a 15-day plan to stop the spread, which would have been completed at the end of March if it were not extended by the administration for another 30 days until April 30.

Trump set a new ideal for the country to reopen from lockdown on May 1, which some experts claim it's 'too soon' to tell and a bit optimistic.

Fauci, a National Institute of Health expert on infectious diseases who serves on the White House coronavirus task force, said that he believes there could be a resurgence of the virus in the fall.

'I don't want to be the pessimistic person – there is always the possibility, as that – as we get into next fall, and the beginning of early winter, that we could see a rebound,' Fauci told CNN of a potential for the virus' severity to return in a few months after seeing a drop off.

The administration's lockdown guidelines, and several state ordinances, have closed all non-essential businesses and push individuals only to leave the home for absolutely necessary reasons like grocery shopping or going to the doctor. 

The lockdown also prohibits social engagements from exceeding 10 people, and some states will even fine individuals for hosting such an event. 

Fauci told CNN the country might be able to begin to ease up stay-at-home measures by next month, but said a 'rolling re-entry' would have to happen, claiming it's not a one size fits all approach.

'It's not going to be a light switch,' Fauci told Tapper. 'It will depend on where you are in the country.'

He also pointed out that for the first time since the uptick in US cases there have been less ICU admissions in New York than the day before.

'It's started to turn a corner,' Fauci said, adding 'it's cautious optimism that we are seeing that decrease'.