Video of Ron DeSantis Blasting Donald Trump Over Dr. Fauci Goes Viral

Florida Governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis attacked rival Donald Trump in a recent interview, accusing the former president of being responsible for putting Anthony Fauci in charge during the pandemic.

Talking about mandated school and business closures during the health emergency due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus—which he opposed—DeSantis told Russell Brand during a podcast conversation that Trump holds direct responsibility for lockdowns.

"During COVID, I was the one fighting Fauci. Donald Trump put Fauci in charge. He never fired Fauci. In fact, Donald Trump's last day in office, he gave Fauci a presidential commendation," the Florida governor told the British actor on Friday.

"And I'm just thinking to myself—this guy has been responsible for justifying school closures, for justifying mandates, for justifying lockdowns, and by January of 2021 we knew how destructive it was."

Newsweek has contacted Trump's office by email.

DeSantis added that on the "biggest hysterical issue"—the pandemic—he was "one of the leaders throughout this world to stand against those people and fight back against them," stressing that he was against lockdowns and other pandemic-related mandates. A clip of the exchange, posted on Twitter by writer Scott Morefield, has amassed over 270,000 views.

Florida was one of the states to hold out the longest against pandemic-related lockdowns, joining more than 30 states who had already imposed similar restrictions only in April 2020. DeSantis remained critical of pandemic-related restrictions throughout the health emergency, keeping schools open and banning mask mandates for millions of students in the state.

During an interview in April, as he was visiting South Carolina, he called Florida a "refuge of sanity" amid pandemic closures, as reported by POLITICO.

While being at the center of controversy around his handling of the pandemic, Fauci defended his decisions. In an interview in June 2020 addressing critics saying that lockdowns had been destructive for the U.S. economy, he said that shutting down helped prevent "hundreds of millions" of infections and saved "millions of lives."

DeSantis' comments to Brand are the latest evidence that the Florida governor has decided to openly confront and attack Trump, after appearing reluctant to do so in the initial stage of his presidential campaign.

Amid the crowd of Republicans who have stepped forward as potential candidates for the 2024 election, DeSantis has emerged as a clear number 2 after Trump. According to website FiveThirtyEight, Trump is currently ahead in the national polls with 50.8 percent of the vote, while DeSantis trails him with 19.5 percent, as of July 21. Polls this early in the race are not necessarily indicative of the final outcome.

Trump has not hold back in his attacks against DeSantis, whom he has given the nickname of "Ron DeSanctimonius" and has accused of having "no personality."

Earlier this week, Trump said that he could soon be facing a federal indictment in connection to the investigation in his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection. He was already indicted over the mishandling of classified documents which federal prosecutors said put national security secrets at risk.