One day after decrying the Trump campaign using video of him in a television ad without his permission, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, repeated his displeasure in an interview with CNN on Monday.
"By doing this against my will, they are in effect harassing me," Dr. Fauci told CNN. "Since campaign ads are about getting votes, their harassment of me might have the opposite effect of turning some voters off."
Dr. Fauci has said that the video, which portrays him as praising the president's response to the pandemic, was taken out of context. He called his inclusion in it "very disappointing," and said that he had been speaking more broadly about the collaborative efforts of the federal government and was "not a political person."
Asked by CNN's Jake Tapper whether the ad should be taken down, something the Trump campaign says it has no intention of doing, Dr. Fauci said, "I think so."
In an interview with The Times on Monday, Dr. Fauci said that he had been unsuccessful so far in having the ad removed.
"I wouldn't know who to contact in the campaign to tell them to pull it down," he said. "I spoke to someone who I know well in the White House to figure it out for me and tell me how to get it down. I haven't heard back from them yet."
Hours before President Trump was set to return to the campaign trail in Florida on Monday, Dr. Fauci warned that holding large rallies was "asking for trouble" with cases of the coronavirus surging in many states.
— Neil Vigdor and Sheila Kaplan, New York Times, October 12, 2020
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October 13, 2020
Voices4America Post Script. Dr. Anthony Fauci has asked the Trump campaign to take their fake ad down. Trump wants you to believe Fauci thinks he did a great job against Covid-19. He didn't. Ask the 214,000 who lost loved ones. #TrumpLiar #VoteBlue #MakeAmericaDecentAgain #BidenHaris2020
