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(FILES) This combination of image files created on July 13, 2020, shows the President of the United States, Donald Trump, in Phoenix, Arizona, on June 23, 2020 and Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases in Washington, DC on April 29. , 2020. – The government’s top scientist, Anthony Fauci, said on October 11, 2020 that an ad issued by Donald Trump’s re-election campaign was edited to appear to support the president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. (Photos by SAUL LOEB and MANDEL NGAN / AFP)
WASHINGTON, United States – The government’s top scientist, Anthony Fauci, said Sunday that an ad aired for Donald Trump’s re-election campaign was edited to appear to support the president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
“In my nearly five decades of public service, I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate,” Fauci, longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a statement sent to AFP.
The 30-second campaign ad cites Trump’s personal experience with the virus – “President Trump is recovering from the coronavirus, and so is the United States,” he says – before including a short clip in which Fauci appears to praise the Trump response. president to the pandemic.
“I can’t imagine anyone could be doing more,” Fauci is shown saying, creating the clear impression that he is referring to Trump.
But a full clip of Fauci’s comments, taken during a March interview with Fox News, shows the doctor saying, “I’ve spent most of my time on this. I am in the White House practically every day with the task force. It is every day. So, I can’t imagine that under any circumstances someone could be doing more. “
In his statement Sunday, Fauci said: “Comments attributed to me without my permission in the Republican campaign ad were taken out of context from a comprehensive statement I made months ago about the efforts of federal public health officials.”
As a prominent member of the White House task force on coronavirus, the 79-year-old doctor has often had to walk a fine line when trying to clarify, or correct, the president’s often reckless claims about the disease or the treatments and vaccines. being developed against Covid-19.
At times, Fauci has aroused the ire of Trump, such as when the president in April retweeted a message containing the hashtag #FireFauci, before publicly insisting that the doctor was doing a great job.
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