At the same time, the Trump campaign ran what Fauci said was an unauthorized campaign ad, where the doctor said his words were taken out of context to appear to unequivocally praise the president’s pandemic response.
The public health official often appeared exasperated at briefings and had to publicly push back against non-scientific claims from the Republican and his inner circle, like Trump’s insistence the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine was an effective treatment for coronavirus.
“You can’t have a security detail for the rest of your life because you work for government,” Trump told reporters, adding that Fauci “made a lot of money” and could hire his own security.
Trump and public health official regularly clashed during height of Covid pandemic and he has talked about facing death threats.
As early as 2020, Fauci said he began getting death threats and was the target of ire from Trump supporters.
