Dr Fauci demands Trump campaign take down misleading coronavirus ad

Top US immunologist says his words were twisted and taken out of context by Trump campaign

The US government’s top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci has demanded the withdrawal of Trump campaign video featuring him where his words were taken “out of context”. 

Speaking to CNN on Monday, Dr Fauci called the incident “unfortunate and disappointing”.

The 30 second ad by the Trump campaign features the US president’s journey to recovery from Covid-19 with the message — “The president is recovering from the Coronavirus, and so is America”.

The ad ends with a statement by Dr Fauci that appeared to praise the efforts of President Trump in fighting the pandemic. Dr Fauci now says that his words were twisted and edited in a way to make it look like an endorsement.

In the ad, Dr Fauci can be heard saying: “I can’t imagine that anybody could be doing more”, immediately following a segment about Mr Trump.

But the original video of Dr Fauci’s comments, made during an interview in March with Fox News, shows the doctor saying: “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.”

Dr Fauci also issued a statement on Sunday in which he made clear he was not backing Mr Trump in next month’s election. It read: “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 also stated: “In my nearly five decades of public service, I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate.”

Mr Trump has continued to defend the video, however, calling it the “words” of Dr Fauci in a tweet, while once again defending his handling of the pandemic.

“They are indeed Dr Fauci’s own words. We have done a ‘phenomenal’ job, according to certain governors,” the US president wrote.

Dr Fauci has openly questioned Mr Trump and his handling of the pandemic multiple times in the past and has been the target of criticism from Trump supporters as a result.