Fauci Hires Private Guards Out of Own Pocket After Trump Suddenly Pulls Security Detail

Former NIH Director Anthony Fauci is paying for a security detail out of his pocket after President Donald Trump pulled the one that was being provided by the agency he led for decades, CNN reported on Friday.

Fauci decided to hire security on his own as he continues to face threats due to his role in fighting the Covid-19. He said at a House hearing during the past summer that there is a direct link between the rise in death threats against him and public figures connecting him to Covid-19-related conspiracy theories.

When a high-profile figure "gets up and makes a public statement that I'm responsible for the deaths of X number of people because of policies or some crazy idea that I created the virus – immediately you can, it's like clockwork – the death threats go way up," Fauci told CNN back then.

Trump defended his decision, saying Fauci has the resources to pay for a security detail if he believes he needs one. "They all made a lot of money. They can hire their own security too. All the people you're talking about, they can go out, I can give them some good numbers of very good security people. They can hire their own security. They all made a lot of money. Fauci made a lot of money," Trump said.

He was also talking about his former national security adviser, John Bolton, as well as former Trump CIA director and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and former Trump special envoy on Iran Brian Hook. All of them also had their details pulled during the first days of the Trump administration.

Bolton said on Tuesday he was "disappointed but not surprised" about the decision and recalled that the Department of Justice "filed criminal charges against an Iranian Revolutionary Guard official in 2022 for attempting to hire a hit man to target me." He said the threats continue in the present given the "recent arrest of someone trying to arrange for President Trump's own assassination."

CBS News reported that the security details for Pompeo and Hook cost roughly $2 million per month. It had been renewed by former Secretary of State Antony Blinken due to threats from the Iranian regime.

Fauci returned to the public eye this week after now former President Joe Biden gave him a preemptive pardon on his last day in office to prevent any possibility that the Trump administration prosecute him.

Fauci said on Monday that he appreciated the decision by Biden but emphasized that he has not committed any crimes.

"I really truly appreciate the action President Biden has taken today on my behalf. Let me be perfectly clear, Jon, I have committed no crime, you know that, and there are no possible grounds for any allegation or threat of criminal investigation or prosecution of me," Fauci told ABC News journalist Jonathan Karl.

Trump and Republicans have criticized the pardon, with Donald Trump Jr. taunting him and saying he doesn't have to accept it. "If he did nothing wrong be a man and turn it down... But you know he won't because everyone knows he's guilty of so much," added the eldest son of Donald Trump.