On Sunday, scientist Anthony Fauci said that an ad aired by Donald Trump’s re-election campaign was edited to make him seem to endorse the president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement sent to AFP Fauci said: “In my nearly five decades of public service, I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate.”
In his statement Sunday, Fauci said: “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.”
The 30-second campaign ad shows Trump’s personal experience with the virus — President Trump is recovering from the coronavirus, and so is America, it says — before including a brief clip in which Fauci appears to praise the president’s response to the pandemic.
“I can’t imagine that anybody could be doing more,” Fauci is shown as saying, creating the clear impression he is referring to Trump.
