Fauci: Trump's Campaign Ad Butchered My Words

Anthony Fauci does not appear happy with the Trump campaign's new ad. America's top infectious disease expert says the campaign took his words out of context and turned them into praise of President Trump, CNN reports. "In my nearly five decades of public service, I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate," Fauci said in response. "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." The ad itself, which is running in Michigan, says President Trump and America "rose to meet the challenge" of battling the coronavirus by "protecting our seniors, getting them life-saving drugs in record time, sparing no expense."

That's when Fauci appears, saying: "I can't imagine that anybody could be doing more." But as Politico notes, Fauci's quote is excerpted from a long answer he gave on Fox News in March that only refers to Trump once. "Since the beginning, that we even recognized what this was, I have been devoting almost full time on this," he said at the time. "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." But the Trump campaign seemed unconcerned: "These are Fauci's own words," said communications director Tim Murtaugh. CNN notes that Trump has publicly and privately acknowledged Fauci's approval ratings, which are higher than his own. (More Anthony Fauci stories.)