- Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s leading infectious disease expert, told CNN’s “The Ax Files” that he and his family have been receiving “serious threats” against their lives.
- “Serious threats against me, against my family … my daughters, my wife, I mean, seriously? Is this the United States of America?” Fauci told host David Axelrod.
- He added that he had been assigned personal security due to the threat.
- Fauci has been hailed as a hero by many for his role in fighting the United States’ coronavirus pandemic, but he has also been attacked by conspiracy theorists and opponents of the blockade measures.
- “There are people who are very angry at the thought that I am interfering with their life because I am pushing a public health agenda,” he said.
- He added: “I am not a hero, I am just doing my job.”
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief infectious disease expert for the White House coronavirus task force, says he and his family have been assigned personal security after receiving “serious threats.”
Speaking on CNN’s “The Ax Files” podcast, Fauci said the threats were of a different magnitude than the ones he received while working on the federal government’s response to the HIV / AIDS pandemic in the 1980s and 1990s.
“I have seen a side of society that I suppose is understandable, but it is a bit disturbing,” he said. “In the days of HIV, when they criticized me with a hate mail, it was, you know, people who called me a gay lover and ‘what the hell are you wasting too much time on?'”
“I mean, things that you would just put aside as stupid people saying stupid things,” Fauci said.
But this year’s criticism is “really a different magnitude now, due to anger,” he said.
“I think as much as people inappropriately make me a hero, and I am not a hero, I am just doing my job, there are people who are very angry at the thought that I am interfering in their life because I am driving a public health agenda,” he continued. .
He said he received “not only the hate mail but also serious threats, it is not good. I don’t see how society does that. It is hard. Serious threats against me, against my family … my daughters, my wife, I mean, really is this united states of america
He said the threats had led to him and his family receiving personal security.
Fauci and President Donald Trump.
Drew Angerer / Getty Images
Fauci was once a mainstay of briefings for the White House coronavirus task force, where his measured assessments of the crisis led him to vote as one of the most trusted public health officials in the U.S. and even hailed as a hero in some quarters.
But as measures designed to curb the virus, such as the use of masks and blockades, have become points of partisan conflict, Fauci has also come under attack.
A gap was also opened between him and President Donald Trump, who for months refused to wear a mask in public and urged states to reopen early in an effort to restart the economy.
Earlier this month, the White House circulated a list of errors that it claimed Fauci had made in an apparent attempt to undermine him, as his message about the existing dangers of COVID-19 and rising infection rates collided with the latest assessment. optimistic about Trump.
Fauci has also been targeted by supporters of the far-right movement QAnon, who claim, without foundation, that a “deep state” of partisan officials is trying to end the Trump presidency and exploit the pandemic to take power.
Earlier this week, he told The New York Times that he had received emails and text messages from people “who are quite hostile about what I’m doing, like it’s invading their individual liberties.”
In response to the attacks and rumors about him, Fauci said: “I suppose this reflects the division of our society at the political level. I mean, this is a public health problem, the fundamental principles of public health, and not” no. I see how people can have animosity. “
“I can understand that you have to be careful due to the negative consequences of things like closing. That is understandable. That is why we are all trying to open the United States again in a safe way, so that we can do it in a fashion measured way.”
“But hostility to public health problems is difficult not only to understand, but also difficult to process,” he added.
