Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, pledged to remain on the coronavirus task force while demanding that the Trump campaign stop “harassing” him.
After a campaign ad took Fauci’s comments on President Trump’s coronavirus response “out of context,” Fauci said that if he was featured in another commercial, it could “come back to backfire” on Trump’s campaign. Fauci then clarified to the Daily Beast that not in his “wildest freakin dreams” would he consider quitting the task force charged with ending the coronavirus outbreak.
“By doing this against my will, they are in effect harassing me,” Fauci said. “Since campaign ads are about getting votes, their harassment of me might have the opposite effect of turning some voters off.”
Fauci, who has tried to remain apolitical, has clashed with Trump on coronavirus safety guidance and vaccine timelines in the past. After the ad debuted, Fauci said the GOP did not ask his permission before including him in the ad.
“In my nearly five decades of public service, I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate,” Fauci said. “The comments attributed to me without my permission in the GOP campaign ad were taken out of context from a broad statement I made months ago about the efforts of federal public health officials.”
