'I'm the far right's public enemy number one' says top US Covid expert Fauci who clashed with Trump

15 September 2022, 18:26

The US president's chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci says he is the far right's "public enemy number one" because of his frequent clashes with Donald Trump.

Mr Fauci became the face of coronavirus messaging in the US when the pandemic broke out, adopting a cautious and serious tone, though many of Mr Trump's followers preferring the president's optimistic and incorrect advice about Covid.

The expert said he became the main enemy of the extreme right in the US because he spoke out when Mr Trump said the virus would go away and promoted unproven remedies.

He told LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr: "It was difficult to listen to it but I had to do something which has made me in some respects the public enemy of the far right in this country to this day, with persistent threats on me and my family, because I did have to speak out.

"For example, when he continued to say that hydroxychloroquine worked, or that the virus would disappear like magic soon, it was very uncomfortable for me to have to publicly contradict him because I have a great deal of respect for the office of the presidency of the United States.

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"So I took no great pleasure in that but I had to do it, both for my own integrity and for my responsibility to the American public because as a public health person that is my responsibility, to the public of the United States and indirectly, to the world, because of the United States' leadership in certain areas of science and public health."

Mr Fauci, who continues to serve under Joe Biden, said he believes the World Health Organisation's claim that the pandemic is almost over could be right but urged caution given how variants sprung up in the past.