Dr. Anthony Fauci did not consent to being featured in a new advertisement from the Trump campaign touting President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, the nation's leading infectious disease expert told CNN his words were taken out of context.
"In my nearly five decades of public service, I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate. The comments attributed to me without my permission in the GOP campaign ad were taken out of context from a broad statement I made months ago about the efforts of federal public health officials," Dr. Fauci said in a statement.
Dr. Fauci says his words in a new Trump ad touting the President's pandemic response are "out of context" and used without his permissionhttps://t.co/Mxsnmjcpau
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) October 11, 2020
The Trump campaign released the new ad last week after the president was discharged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center following treatment for COVID-19. The 30-second ad, which is airing in Michigan and Pennsylvania, touts Mr. Trump's personal experience with the virus and uses a quote from Dr. Fauci in an attempt to make it appear as if he is praising the president’s response.
"President Trump is recovering from the coronavirus, and so is America," the ad's narrator says. "Together we rose to meet the challenge, protecting our seniors, getting them life-saving drugs in record time, sparing no expense."
The ad then flashes to an interview with Dr. Fauci in which he says, "I can't imagine that anybody could be doing more."
Though no date is provided in the ad, Dr. Fauci's quote is from an interview with Fox News in March. During that interview, Dr. Fauci praised the White House coronavirus task force's round-the-clock effort to respond to the pandemic, which he says included numerous White House meetings and late-night phone calls.
"We've never had a threat like this. The coordinated response has been — there are a number of adjectives to describe it; impressive, I think, is one of them. We're talking about all hands on deck. I, as one of many people on a team, I'm not the only person," Dr. Fauci said. "Since the beginning, that we even recognized what this was, I have been devoting almost full time on this. I'm down at the White House virtually every day with the task force. It's every single day. So, I can't imagine that under any circumstances that anybody could be doing more."
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The use of Dr. Fauci in the new ad appeared to be a recognition by the Trump campaign that the doctor is a voice voters trust when it comes to the pandemic. Mr. Trump has privately and publicly compared Dr. Fauci's approval with his own.
In late July, Mr. Trump publicly wondered why the doctor's approval rating is so high when his is so low.
"It's interesting: he's got a very good approval rating. And I like that, it's good," Mr. Trump said. "Because remember: He's working for this administration. He's working with us. We could have gotten other people. We could have gotten somebody else. It didn't have to be Dr. Fauci. He's working with our administration. And for the most part, we've done what he and others — and Dr. [Deborah] Birx and others — have recommended."
Mr. Trump continued: "And he's got this high approval rating. So why don't I have a high approval rating with respect — and the administration — with respect to the virus? We should have it very high."
On ABC News Sunday, Jon Karl, who was guest hosting "This Week," said he requested Dr. Fauci for an interview, and although he was willing to come on, the White House blocked the appearance. Mr. Karl said other medical experts on the task force were also requested, but the White House did not offer anyone.
#JonKarl Says White House 'WOULDN’T ALLOW' @Fauci, Other Medical Experts to Appear on ABC's This Week
— Michael O'Grady (@mog7546) October 11, 2020
He was more than willing to join us, but the White House wouldn’t allow you to hear from the nation’s leading expert on coronavirus.#MOGhttps://t.co/dPTMykaF89
White House communications director Alyssa Farah tweeted later Sunday that Dr. Fauci had made multiple appearances on television in the last week and denied that he was blocked from appearing on “This Week.”
First Published: October 11, 2020, 7:02 p.m.
