Dr. Anthony Fauci had his taxpayer-funded security detail pulled, President Trump confirmed during a press conference Friday.
“I think when you work for government, at some point your security detail comes off, and you know, you can’t have them forever,” Trump told a reporter at a hurricane response briefing in Asheville, NC.
“We took some off other people too,” he noted, apparently referring to former national security adviser John Bolton and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“They can hire their own security too. … I can give them some good numbers of very good security people,” Trump added. “Fauci made a lot of money. They all did.”
Fauci, who is still facing threats over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, has hired personal security since having the government detail revoked on Thursday, according to CNN.
The longtime head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has been accused of funneling taxpayer money oversees for dangerous gain-of-function research — including at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, from where many believe SARS‑CoV‑2 leaked to kick off a worldwide pandemic.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) had requested security for Fauci back in 2020 due to the death threats he was receiving for the role he played in advising the government during the pandemic.
He did not have Secret Service protection and was instead being protected by federal marshals, and then a private security contractor for which the government was paying, per the New York Times.
Critics of the former chief medical adviser to the president have long called for his protection to be revoked given the hefty price tag that comes with having around the clock security.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Thursday that he had sent a notice in an effort to end his “limo” service.
“Today I sent supporting information to end the 24 hr a day limo and security detail for Fauci. I wish him nothing but peace but he needs to pay for his own limos,” Paul wrote on X.
Trump flamed former President Joe Biden for pre-emptively pardoning Fauci and other ex-government officials on the way out of the Oval Office, calling them “political thugs.”
“Many are guilty of MAJOR CRIMES!” Trump said.
Biden also issued pardons to former Rep. Liz Cheney and retired Army Gen. Mark Milley in the final hours of his presidency, arguing that Trump may try to seek retribution for their actions during his term.
“I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics,” Biden said of his pardons. “But these are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing.”
“It feels good and I’m grateful to the president for doing it,” Fauci told CNN Monday about receiving the pardon.
Critics of Fauci have argued that his acceptance of the pardon from Biden constitutes an admission of guilt.
