The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has ordered the withdrawal of security details for epidemiologist Anthony Fauci, who has been a prominent figure in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic during Trump’s and subsequently Joe Biden's administrations. The protection provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was removed from Fauci last Thursday, leading him to hire private security due to ongoing threats from people who believe in conspiracy theories about the pandemic and vaccines.
In statements to CNN, Trump commented: "When you've worked for the government, at some point your security details go away, you can't have them forever." Fauci has spent decades in various government roles in public health and advised Trump at the start of the pandemic, despite their marked differences due to the lack of adherence to scientific recommendations.
Upon taking office in 2021, Joe Biden retained Fauci as the visible face in response to the health emergency. Before leaving office, Biden granted Fauci a preemptive pardon to avoid possible legal actions from the new Trump administration. In addition to removing Fauci's security details, Trump also eliminated the security team of John Bolton, who had been his National Security Advisor during his first term but was dismissed in 2019.
Bolton had security due to threats received from Iran. In 2022, the Department of Justice charged a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard with attempting to assassinate Bolton.
