Story at a glance
- Anthony Fauci says he intends to continue serving as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases regardless of who wins the 2020 presidential election.
- Fauci’s relationship with President Trump has grown increasingly strained over the course of the pandemic.
Infectious diseases expert and White House adviser Anthony Fauci intends to continue working alongside political leaders regardless of the U.S. election outcome.
In an interview on CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith,” Fauci stated that he fully intends to continue serving as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for the next four years.
“I’m not gonna walk away from this outbreak, no matter who’s the president,” Fauci said.
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Fauci has been a key voice during the COVID-19 pandemic, with many turning to him for guidance amid a lack of federal leadership regarding the virus.
He further confirmed that he would not endorse any political candidate but would remain impartial to the 2020 presidential outcome. In recent months, however, tensions between Fauci and President Trump have increased, most recently when Fauci’s image and comments were used out of context in a recent campaign ad.
“In my nearly five decades of public service, I have never publicly endorsed nor do I now endorse any political candidates,” Fauci stated. “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.”
He has also openly discouraged attendees at Trump campaign rallies from attending events with large numbers of people as testing positivity rates surge across the country.
Still, when asked by Smith about the working conditions on the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Fauci continued to be apolitical.
“Obviously, there are a lot of things that are going on that you would prefer did not happen, like the ad which put me in a political context,” he continued. “That’s not helpful, but I’m certainly not going to give up.”
In response to Fauci’s recent criticism of being taken out of context, Trump tweeted about the White House’s successful efforts to keep Americans safe during the pandemic.
Actually, Tony’s pitching arm is far more accurate than his prognostications. “No problem, no masks”. WHO no longer likes Lockdowns – just came out against. Trump was right. We saved 2,000,000 USA lives!!! https://t.co/YyLyCsbZ7a
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2020
Fauci cited the COVID-19 pandemic as the motivation for continuing his work in public health policy.
“This is too important a problem,” he said. “I’ve devoted my entire professional life to fighting infectious diseases. This is an outbreak of historic proportions, the likes of which we have not seen in 102 years. There’s no chance that I’m going to give up on this and walk away from it, no matter what happens.”
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