Fauci tells of death threats after refuting Trump claims

AMERICA’S leading infectious diseases expert and his family faced months of death threats after he started contradicting Donald Trump over the severity of the pandemic in the United States.

Speaking to The New York Times, Dr Anthony Fauci set out the difficulties he faced working with the then president, with the problems beginning when Covid cases gathered pace in the northeast of the country, especially around New York.

“I would try to express the gravity of the situation and the response of the president was always leaning toward, ‘Well, it’s not that bad, right?’,” said the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Dr Fauci was also alarmed by Mr Trump’s willingness to heed advice from associates, with no medical experience, on an array of “cures” for Covid.

“He would take just as seriously their opinion – based on no data, just anecdote – that something might really be important. It wasn’t just hydroxychloroquine, it was a variety of alternative medicine-type approaches.”

Mr Trump was surrounding himself with people saying things that made no scientific sense, Dr Fauci said.

He was not keen to openly challenge Mr Trump but felt he had no alternative. “I have a great deal of respect for the office,” he said. “But I made a decision that I just had to. Otherwise, I would be compromising my own integrity, and be giving a false message. If I didn’t speak up, it would be almost tacit approval that what he was saying was OK.”

The death threats began in March. He said: “It was the harassment of my wife, and particularly my children, that upset me more than anything else.

“They knew where my kids work, where they live. The threats would come directly to my children’s phones.”