Former President Donald Trump said during an interview this week that he did not fire Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, because he was “not actually allowed to fire him,” but that he would normally do it anyway.

Trump made the remarks during a Fox News interview with anchor Bret Baier that aired Tuesday evening.

During the interview, Trump claimed that people tell him he saved 100 million people around the world, but that “I don’t even talk about it.”

“I said, I really don’t want to talk about it because, as a Republican, it’s not a great thing to talk about because, for some reason, it’s just not,” Trump said.

“For some reason?” Baier probed.

“Yeah, for some reason,” Trump responded. “Because, people love the vaccines, and people hate the vaccines. But, conservatives aren’t — and I understand both sides of it, by the way. I understand both sides very well. What I didn’t do is the mandates — the mandates and the vaccines don’t go.”

Trump immediately sought to shift gears by attacking Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, claiming that DeSantis “loved Fauci.”

Baier responded, “Sure, but you didn’t fire him. You listened to him, you kept him on.”

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“You’re not actually allowed to fire him,” Trump claimed, “but I wouldn’t let that usually get in my way. You know, it’s one of those things. But you have a lot of people that love the vaccines, I mean, you do. They happen to be more Democrat than they are Republican.”

WATCH:

Trump says he saved the lives of 100 million people, but says "for some reason" people don't like the COVID vaccines his administration developed.

When Bret Baier noted that Trump didn't fire Dr. Anthony Fauci, Trump responded, “Well he’s the civil service, you are not actually… pic.twitter.com/BqEYzJkdS4

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) June 21, 2023