JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A recent campaign ad that supports President Donald Trump in the 2020 election does not have support from Dr. Anthony Fauci.
The ad shows comments that the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases made in March, and Fauci said his comments are being used out of context.
“President Trump is recovering from the coronavirus, and so is America,” the narrator of the ad says. “Together we rose to meet the challenge, protecting our seniors, getting them life-saving drugs in record time, sparing no expense.”
The advertisement then cuts to an interview with Fauci, and he says, “I can’t imagine that anybody could be doing more.”
The clip was from an interview Fauci gave with Fox News. He was praising the efforts of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
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Fauci is pushing back on the ad, saying he didn’t give consent to be used in an advertisement supporting the president.
“It’s so clear that I’m not a political person and I have never, either directly or indirectly, endorsed a political candidate,” Fauci said during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper. “And to take it completely out of context and put it in, which is obviously a political campaign ad, I thought was really very disappointing.”
Fauci might be even more disappointed to find out that he probably can’t do much to fight it.
“It happens all the time,” said News4Jax political analyst Rick Mullaney. “When you give a public interview, when you give comments, it’s fair game and it can be used.”
Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign communications director, said in a statement: “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.”
Fauci said Monday that he wants the political advertisement “taken down.” He also said it would be “terrible” for the Trump campaign to have him in future ads.