“The View” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin is taking credit for keeping Dr. Anthony Fauci in his job during President Donald Trump’s first administration.
Griffin made the claim Tuesday during an appearance on the “Behind the Table” podcast, where she sat down with “The View” producer Brian Teta. The conversation centered on what Griffin described as a “prisoner’s dilemma” facing Republican politicians when it comes to dealing with Trump.
According to Griffin, many Republicans are far more frustrated with the president behind closed doors than they are willing to admit publicly. She argued that GOP lawmakers know they need to stay on Trump’s good side in order to advance their legislative priorities and to avoid the president throwing his support behind a primary challenger, as he has done against others in the past.
That discussion led Griffin to reflect on her own tenure inside the Trump White House and the moments when she said she pushed back against the president. Griffin served as White House Director of Strategic Communications and Assistant to the President from April 2020 until her resignation in December of that year.
“I think about it with my own time in the White House. I mean, I could point to very specific things, like convincing the former president — er, the current president — to not fire Tony Fauci,” Griffin said. “That’s a reason it was important for me to be in the room.”
She continued, “I can think of different things, but you can always wrestle with there’s only two choices you could have made and I never know what the right choice is.”
Fauci served for years as the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a role he held throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. During that period, lockdown measures and Fauci’s comments on the origins of the virus sparked outrage among Republicans.
Trump himself has bragged about not following Fauci’s advice. The president has also said he couldn’t have “won that one” had he tried to remove Fauci from his post.
Looking back on her conversations with Trump about Fauci, Griffin acknowledged the difficulty of the decisions she faced while serving in the administration.
“Hindsight is 20/20, but I tried to learn from decisions and move forward accordingly,” Griffin said.
Teta suggested that her presence in the White House may have mattered more than people realize.
“And you have to imagine who else would have been in those rooms if you weren’t there,” Teta said.
Griffin responded with a pointed jab at the president’s current administration.
“Well, I think we’re seeing it this term,” she said.
The remarks offer a rare look at the inner workings of the first Trump White House from a former senior aide who has since become one of the president’s critics on daytime television. Griffin’s account also highlights the tension she says many Republicans continue to feel between their private frustrations and their public loyalty to Trump, as they weigh their legislative goals against the risk of drawing a primary challenge backed by the president.
