Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert, did not mince words when talking about the ceremony at the White House Rose Garden for President Trump's Supreme Court Nominee Amy Coney Barrett.

"I think the data speaks for themselves," Fauci told CBS News Radio. "We had a superspreader event in the White House and it was in a situation where people were crowded together and were not wearing masks. So the data speak for themselves."

What You Need To Know

  • Dr. Fauci called the White House Rose Garden ceremony to introduce President Trump's Supreme Court nominee a "superspreader event" in an interview

  • The nation's top infectious disease expert spoke to CBS News Radio Friday

  • Dr. Fauci also slammed Trump's repeated reference to Regeneron's therapeutic as a "cure"

  • Dr. Fauci was not alarmed by Trump's coughing during a Fox News interview: "Sometimes it takes a while to get everything back to normal"

Dr. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, made those remarks when CBS News' Steven Portnoy asked him about wearing masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Fauci also slammed Trump's repeated suggestions that there is already a "cure" for the coronavirus.

"We don't have any indication – I think you really have to depend on what you mean by a 'cure,' because that's a word that leads to a lot of confusion," he said. "We have good treatments for people with advanced disease who are in the hospital." 

Dr. Fauci's comments came the same day that President Trump, in an appearance on Rush Limbaugh's radio show, repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that Regeneron's therapeutic is a "cure." 

Trump has previously referred to Regeneron's therapeutic as a "cure."

"They call them therapeutic, but to me, it wasn't therapeutic. It just made me better. Okay, I call that a cure," he said Wednesday.

Dr. Fauci did not seem fazed by Trump's coughing during an interview on Fox News Thursday, saying that symptoms of COVID could still linger even as the president's health improves.

"Having a bit of a lingering cough is not at all unusual as someone recovers," Fauci said. "So, I was not that taken aback ... because when people do recover, they can have a lingering cough and maybe even a little shortness of breath for a while after they recover. Sometimes it takes a while to get everything back to normal."

Fauci's interview comes the same week as his participation in a webinar hosted by American University’s Kennedy Political Union on Tuesday, where he said that he would not be seeing his daughters on Thanksgiving because they live in “disparate parts of the country."

“We would love for them to come home for Thanksgiving,” he said. “They have said themselves, ‘Dad, you know you’re a young, vigorous guy, but you’re 79 years old.’”