Trump Turning Up the Heat on a Familiar Foe—Fauci

Dr. Anthony Fauci has talked about his friction with former President Trump and how Trump's supporters harassed him and his family as a result. Things may be about to get much worse on those fronts for the doctor, even with COVID on the wane. Axios reports that Trump intends to make Fauci one of his main targets—on par with Hillary Clinton—at his upcoming rallies. Related coverage:

• Trump ripped into Fauci in emailed statements Thursday, reports the New York Post. "The correspondence between Dr. Fauci and China speaks too loudly for anyone to ignore," he wrote, referencing newly published emails showing that Fauci stayed in contact throughout the pandemic with a top Chinese scientist. "China should pay Ten Trillion Dollars to America, and the World, for the death and destruction they have caused!" added Trump.
• “There are a lot of questions that must be answered by Dr. Fauci," wrote the former president. "The funding of Wuhan by the U.S. was foolishly started by the Obama Administration in 2014 but ended under the Trump Administration. When I heard about it, I said ‘no way.’ What did Dr. Fauci know about ‘gain of function’ research, and when did he know it?" As Yahoo News explains, that type of research is when a lab makes a virus more dangerous to study it.

• Fauci also is taking a serious drubbing on Fox News, with Tucker Carlson calling for a criminal investigation of him and Sean Hannity trumpeting a graphic about "the FALL of FAUCI," per Axios. This is over the renewed questions about whether COVID originated in a lab in China.
• Fauci has been pilloried on the right throughout the pandemic, but Politico notes that the newly released emails have led to attacks against him on a whole new level. The White House on Friday called Fauci an "undeniable asset," though a spokesperson said they would let Fauci speak for himself. President Biden, for his part, declared that he was "very confident" in the doctor, per the Hill.
• Meanwhile, Fauci is publicly calling on China to release the medical records of Wuhan lab researchers to help shed light on the controversy about COVID's origins, reports the Hill. “I would like to see the medical records of the three people who are reported to have got sick in 2019,” Fauci told the Financial Times (subscription). "Did they really get sick, and if so, what did they get sick with?" He also wants China to release the records of miners who were sickened years ago after entering a bat cave.

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