Donald Trump has pulled Anthony Fauci's security detail, source says

According to sources at CNN, President Donald Trump has terminated the security detail provided by the National Institutes of Health for Dr. Anthony Fauci, a decision that took effect Thursday evening. Due to ongoing threats stemming from Fauci's public role during the COVID-19 pandemic, he has now hired private security at his own expense.

This move is part of a "revenge tour" by Trump against his former officials. Previously, Trump also revoked the security details for former National Security Advisor John Bolton and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Trump has publicly clashed with Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert.

Trump stated on Friday while inspecting storm damage in North Carolina, "I think, you know, when you work for the government...at some point, your security detail leaves, you know, you can't have them forever." When asked by CNN reporter Betsy Klein if he would bear any responsibility if something happened to Fauci or Bolton, Trump responded that he would not.

Trump added, "They all made a lot of money. They can hire their own security. All these people you're talking about, they can go out, I can give them some very good security people's names. They can hire their own security. Fauci made a lot of money." Trump has been complaining since Monday about President Joe Biden's pardon of former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Fauci before leaving office.

As the most prominent epidemiologist in the United States during the pandemic, Anthony Fauci became the target of numerous threats and conspiracy theories. Biden stated at the time in a statement, "Even when an individual has done nothing wrong—indeed has done the right thing—and ultimately is proven innocent, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can cause irreparable damage to reputation and finances."

Fauci worked in government for decades, serving as the nation's top infectious disease expert for 38 years. Trump had awarded Fauci and 51 others who served on the "Operation Warp Speed" task force during the COVID-19 pandemic with Presidential Commendations, though Trump later claimed he didn't know who gave them to him. Fauci has been a target of the far-right.

After testifying at a contentious House hearing this summer about the government's response to the pandemic, Fauci said he saw a direct link between the increase in death threats against him and his family and public figures linking him to COVID conspiracy theories. "It's a pattern," Fauci told CNN's Kaitlan Collins in June, "When someone in the media or in Congress stands up and makes a public statement, because of some policy or this crazy idea that I created the virus, that I'm responsible for the death of X number of people—you see immediately, like clockwork—a dramatic increase in death threats."