Security increased after threats for American infectious disease expert Dr Fauci
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Security for Dr Anthony Fauci, the 79-year-old infectious disease expert who has become a calm, reassuring foil to Donald Trump at coronavirus briefings, has been expanded, according to multiple reports.
While Fauci’s straight talk and willingness to gently correct the president’s outrageous exaggerations has drawn wide-spread admiration, the doctor has received threats and unwelcome communications from both critics and fervent admirers. The Washington Post first reported the news.
At a coronavirus taskforce briefing at the White House on Wednesday, Fauci declined to comment on whether he was receiving security protection, deferring to the health department’s inspector general.
Trump interjected, saying that Fauci “doesn’t need security, everybody loves him”. If anyone were to attack Fauci, Trump added, “they’d be in big trouble”, touting the disease expert’s high school athletic career.
“He was a great basketball player, did anybody know that?” Trump said. “He was a little on the short side for the NBA but he was talented.” As basketball captain at Regis high school in 1958, Fauci had helped lead the team to an unlikely victory.
