Dr Anthony Fauci said Wednesday that he’s had to hire security to protect himself and his family after receiving death threats from people who object to his work on the coronavirus pandemic and the science behind regulations.
During a livestreamed talk with CNN’s Dr Sanjay Gupta hosted by Harvard’s School of Public Health, the infectious disease expert said he was taken aback by the harassment he and his family have received in the last few months.
Noting that crisis “brings out the best of people and the worst of people,” Fauci said, “getting death threats for me and my family and harassing my daughters to the point where I have to get security, it’s amazing.”
Fauci said his wife and daughters were “fine” but stressed by the threats.
“I wouldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams that people who object to things that are pure public health principles are so set against it and don’t like what you and I say, namely in the world of science, that they actually threaten you,” he said.
Fauci previously revealed that he and his family were facing “serious threats” during an interview on “The Axe Files” podcast in July. At that time, he called the threats “a little bit disturbing.”
Fauci had his own personal security detail as early as April, according to reports from CNN and The Hill.
Fauci is one of the most prominent figures in the White House’s coronavirus task force but has also been at odds with members of the Trump administration, including Donald Trump himself, as he offered bleak predictions as the pandemic worsened.
Trump has undermined and contradicted some of Fauci’s recommendations and information during the pandemic. This past weekend, Trump directly challenged Fauci by retweeting a video of the doctor explaining why the US has experienced another surge in coronavirus cases over the summer while cases in European countries have fallen.
“Wrong!” the president tweeted.
Peter Navarro, Trump’s top trade adviser, even published an op-ed against Fauci in USA Today in an attempt to discredit him, claiming the infectious disease expert “has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on.”