By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump found himself mired in controversy once again after he appeared to endorse a call to terminate his own top health official, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

On Sunday, Trump retweeted a user who called for Fauci to be fired shortly after America's top infectious disease expert went on television and admitted that more lives could have been saved in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic if the administration had acted earlier.

"I mean, obviously, you could logically say that if you had a process that was ongoing and you started mitigation earlier, you could have saved lives," Fauci said Sunday during a CNN interview.

Hours later, Trump retweeted a user who had posted a message saying "Time to #FireFauci" and praised Trump’s decision to issue a travel ban against China in February.

Trump has come under intense scrutiny for his administration's response to the coronavirus outbreak, which only intensified after The New York Times revealed he had for weeks rebuffed pleas from health officials to issue social distancing measures.

Trump, however, denies that he was slow to respond to the crisis.