Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says President Donald Trump‘s re-election campaign is “harassing” him by using his words in ads without his permission.
Speaking to reporters from the Daily Beast, Fauci said of the campaign’s decision to feature him in ads, “By doing this against my will, they are, in effect, harassing me.”
“Since campaign ads are about getting votes, their harassment of me might have the opposite effect of turning some voters off,” he added.
Over the weekend, the Trump campaign released a new ad focusing on Trump’s recovery from COVID-19 and his handling of the outbreak of the virus. That ad also featured a portion of an interview Fauci gave in March that was cut to make it appear as though he was speaking specifically about Trump.
“I can’t imagine … that anybody could be doing more,” Fauci is seen saying in the ad. However, in that March interview, Fauci was specifically addressing the work of the White House coronavirus task force.
Watch the ad below:
In a statement to CNN on Sunday, he said, “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,” he added.
After Fauci said his comments were taken out of context and used without his permission, the Trump campaign said, “These are Dr. Fauci’s own words. The video is from a nationally broadcast television interview in which Dr. Fauci was praising the work of the Trump Administration. The words spoken are accurate, and directly from Dr. Fauci’s mouth.”
On Monday, during an appearance on CNN, Fauci was asked for his response to reports that the Trump campaign was planning on featuring him in a new ad.
He said, “You know that would be terrible. I mean, that would be outrageous if they do that. In fact, that might actually come back to backfire on them. I hope they don’t do that.”
"I think it's really disappointing and really disappointing that they did that" — Fauci says the Trump campaign should take down campaign ads that take his words of out context and make it seems like he endorsed the White House coronavirus response pic.twitter.com/aYp0cfluGB
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 12, 2020
The Daily Beast asked if Fauci was suggesting that he might resign if the Trump campaign featured him in a new ad, he said, “Not a chance.”
“Not in my wildest freakin’ dreams … did I ever think about quitting,” he added.