Who Would Want To Harm Dr.Fauci? Let's Just Say He Needed To Get a Security Detail
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will get a security detail amid increased threats to his security, according to multiple reports.
The 79-year-old doctor has been one of the most high-profile members of President Donald Trump's response to the coronavirus, earning praise and prompting the creation of fan-made paraphernalia from donuts to bobbleheads.
With that higher profile also came threats online, the Washington Post first reported. In response to threats to Fauci, the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Marshals Service have stationed agents at HHS to protect him, according to the Post.
The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal also reported the security detail, citing unnamed officials familiar with the matter.
The extent of the threats was not immediately clear, Fauci has drawn criticism from some of Trump's staunchest allies online after some say he has contradicted the president.
In a candid interview with Science Magazine in mid-March, Fauci said he and Trump "disagree on some things," but "he listens. He goes his own way. He has his own style."
Among other issues, Fauci has tamped down expectations about potential treatments for the coronavirus and voiced discomfort with the use of "Chinse virus" to describe it.
Trump thanked Fauci in a March 24 tweet, sharing a clip of an interview with him on Fox News and commenting, "thank you Tony!"
"He asks a lot of questions. That's his nature. He's constantly asking questions. And I never, in the multiple times I've done that, where I said, 'For scientific reasons we really should do this,' that he hasn't said, 'Let's do it.'"
Fauci declined to comment about the security detail during a coronavirus task force briefing on Wednesday, telling reporters, "anything that has to do with security detail, I'd have to have you refer that question to the Inspector General of HHS rather than my answer that.
President Donald Trump then interjected, noting Fauci had been a basketball player, and saying, "He doesn’t need security. Everybody loves him. Besides, they’d be in big trouble if they ever attacked."
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