evidence: Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke highly of Dr. Anthony Fauci, an infectious disease expert and then-director of the National Institutes for Allergies and Infectious Diseases. We didn’t find DeSantis using the exact quote Trump recounted, but he did say something similar. The Trump campaign pointed us to a June 1 CNN article that explored some of DeSantis’ March 2020 praise for Fauci, who helped lead the national response to COVID-19. At the time, DeSantis said that Fauci was "really doing a good job," CNN reported. When he was asked about the timeline for the coronavirus pandemic and recovery on March 14, 2020, DeSantis said, "I would defer to people like Dr. Fauci." [...] Trump, like DeSantis, frequently criticized Fauci. But he, too, praised Fauci at times. On Jan. 29, 2020, Trump formed a White House Coronavirus Task Force that included Fauci and others who the administration described as "subject matter experts" and "some of the Nation’s foremost experts on infectious diseases." Trump featured Fauci in a 2020 campaign ad, in which he used a Fauci statement out of context to suggest Fauci was complimentary of Trump’s pandemic response. And on his last full day in office, Trump awarded presidential commendations to Fauci and 51 others, though he later said he didn’t know who had given the commendation.