President Donald Trump has revoked security protection for former top US health official Anthony Fauci, who has faced death threats since leading the country’s Covid-19 response.
“You can’t have a security detail for the rest of your life because you work for government,” Trump told reporters, when asked about the decision on Friday. “It’s very standard.”
This week, Trump also revoked security protections for his former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, his former National Security Adviser John Bolton and former envoy Brian Hook, who all faced threats from Iran.
Dr Fauci has now hired his own private security team that he will pay for himself, US media report.
Asked whether he felt responsible for the officials’ safety, Trump said on Friday: “They all made a lot of money. They can hire their own security too.”
Dr Fauci was previously protected by federal marshals, and then a private security company, which was paid for by the government, according to the New York Times.
One of Dr Fauci’s most vocal Republican critics, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, had called for his security to be revoked.
He wrote in a post on X on Thursday that he had “sent supporting information to end the 24 hr a day limo and security detail for Fauci”.
“I wish him nothing but peace but he needs to pay for his own limos,” he said.
Trump has also revoked the security clearances of 51 intelligence officials who had claimed that Hunter Biden’s laptop had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
Under US protocol, former presidents and their spouses are granted security protection for life. But protection for other US officials is decided based on the threat assessment from the intelligence community.
As the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr Fauci faced death threats during and after the coronavirus pandemic, as well as criticism from Republicans over mask mandates and other Covid restrictions.
He led the institute for 40 years, including during Trump’s first term. Trump had also awarded presidential commendations to Dr Fauci who served on the Operation Warp Speed task force during the pandemic.
Before leaving office, then-President Joe Biden issued a preemptive pardon for Dr Fauci.
The doctor told US media that he “truly appreciated” Biden for taking action, adding that the possibility of prosecution had created “immeasurable and intolerable distress” on his family.
“Let me be perfectly clear, I have committed no crime and there are no possible grounds for any allegation or threat of criminal investigation or prosecution of me,” he said.
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