Dr. Anthony Fauci.

By now, you probably know who he is, and you probably know how you feel about him.

More than half of Americans say they think Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert,

is handling the coronavirus well.

But you know who isn't so sure about that?

I don't know that he's a little bit of an alarmist. That's okay. A little bit of an alarmist.

I'm an alarmist. A little bit of an alarmist. President Trump and a few of his closest advisors have begun murmuring about Dr. Fauci over the last few days. They've been highlighting all the ways the doctor

has stumbled since this coronavirus began spreading. This is the president on Fox News over the weekend.

Dr. Fauci at the beginning, and again, I have a great relationship with him. I spoke to him at

the length yesterday. Dr. Fauci at the beginning said, this will pass. Don't worry about it.

This will pass. He was wrong.

This interview came at the end of a week in which the White House gave reporters anti-Fouchi talking points.

It came after a top advisor to the president challenged Dr. Fauci on the op-ed pages of USA Today.

But over the last few days, Dr. Fauci has not been afraid to speak up in his own defense.

So we called him to talk about the politics at this moment, and the science too.

Dr. Fauci, did you just put on hand sanitizer?

I did. I love it. You're like always on point.

I'm always on point. I try to be anyway.

Fauci gave us 30 minutes Monday afternoon, just before he had to speed off to a coronavirus task force meeting.

So the rest of the show is that conversation, lightly edited.

The New York Times ran a whole story saying, you know, the chatter in Washington is what's happening with Dr. Fauci.

Do you get asked that question directly? Do you want to answer it?

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