Dr. Anthony Fauci is raising his voice and raising the stakes in the battle begun by the Trump campaign against him, and now he’s hitting back hard.
The president’s campaign put out a video that takes remarks Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, made in support of the coronavirus task force. But the Trump campaign re-cut those remarks to make them look like Fauci was praising and effectively endorsing President Donald Trump. He was not.
“By doing this against my will, they are in effect harassing me,” Fauci told The Daily Beast. “Since campaign ads are about getting votes, their harassment of me might have the opposite effect of turning some voters off.”
Earlier Monday Fauci had told CNN, “I think it’s really unfortunate and really disappointing that they did that,” he said, referring to using him in an ad without his consent, “it’s so clear that I’m not a political person.”
Told the Trump campaign might put out a second ad highlighting him, Dr. Fauci said if they did it would be “outrageous” and might “backfire.”
Does that mean he might resign?
“Not a chance,” Fauci said.
“Not in my wildest freakin dreams,” he told The Beast, “did I ever think about quitting.”