Biden Pardons Former Rep. Cheney, General Milley, Anthony Fauci and More
President Joe Biden issued blanket preemptive pardons to potential targets of President-elect Donald Trump to protect them from criminal prosecution.
President Donald Trump announced Friday that he has revoked the federal security detail for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“When you work for the government, your security detail ends,” Trump told reporters during a press briefing in Fletcher, N.C.
Trump said the security detail for former President Joe Biden’s 84-year-old immunologist and former chief medical adviser was lifted on Thursday because it may not last a lifetime and Fauci could hire her own security.
A physician for the National Institutes of Health for more than half a century, Fauci led the federal health response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to Republicans’ withdrawal of studies into the origins of the disease and its The competition drew strong criticism about the lockdown. First year
On Friday, a source close to the situation confirmed to USA TODAY that Fauci’s security detail has been canceled, and that moving forward, Fauci will pay his security detail.
A spokeswoman for Fauci declined to comment on Trump’s move.
Fauci has previously said that he and his family have received threats during the pandemic, including death threats.
Republicans accused Fauci of helping fund the Chinese effort
Before Trump took office as the 47th president of the United States on Monday, Biden issued a blanket preemptive pardon Save them from criminal prosecution for Fauci and other potential targets of the incoming president.
During a contentious hearing this summer about the response to Covid-19, Republicans accused him of helping fund the Chinese government’s efforts to make the virus, medical data about the pandemic. , and made the U.S. guidelines, all of which said Fauci said it wasn’t true.
In the same hearing, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., refused to call Fauci a “doctor” and said he “deserves to be in jail” before walking out of the chamber.
Who else lost federal security details?
Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, and Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, also lost their security details during the first week of their administration.
“They all made a lot of money, they might as well hire their own security,” Trump said.
Natalie Nessa Aland is a senior reporter for USA Today. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her at x @nataliealund.
