Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates suggested Thursday that he talks to Dr. Anthony Fauci more than President Donald Trump does.
“I talk to him regularly, more often then he talks to some other people,” Gates said during a CNN town hall on the coronavirus pandemic. (RELATED: Laura Ingraham On Fauci’s Latest Warning: ‘The Medical Deep State Strikes Again’)
“You’ve talked to him in the last two and a half weeks?” CNN anchor Anderson Cooper asked.
“Yea,” Gates replied. “He’s fantastic. His view of the chances and our view are very aligned. We’re seeing the same data. We’re sharing the same data.”
Bill Gates suggests he speaks with Dr. Anthony Fauci more than Fauci speaks with President Trump, saying, “I talk to him regularly, more often than he talks to some other people.” #CNNTownHall https://t.co/DEZHA0QPJG pic.twitter.com/ubVkiE9yPq
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) June 26, 2020
Fauci told NPR earlier in June that he had not spoken with the president in more than two weeks. Fauci also said earlier in June that he would not have attended Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa, citing his advanced age. (RELATED: Trump Rebukes Dr. Fauci Over Suggestion That NFL Season May Not Happen)
Gates appeared on CNN Thursday night, during a town hall with Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, where he expressed optimism that progress was being made on a coronavirus vaccine.
“If the safety and efficacy is there, the factory piece is being done, the cost of those two vaccines, the ability to scale up production is very, very strong,” Gates added. “And, the logistics in the U.S. are not an issue at all. We can get this thing out there.”
Gates pledged earlier this year to invest billions of dollars in a possible coronavirus vaccine, saying that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would help fund research at seven factories that are working to come up with a vaccine.