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Dr. Fauci recently revealed plans to retire by the end of Joe Biden’s term. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) spoke about his retirement plans in an interview with Politico Monday.
“We’re in a pattern now. If somebody says, ‘You’ll leave when we don’t have Covid anymore,’ then I will be 105. I think we’re going to be living with this,” Fauci told the outlet. The controversial Covid-19 task force doctor was responding to a question about whether he is staying in his position because he feels obligated.
Fauci said to Politico he expects Republicans will go after him if they successfully take over the House and Senate in the upcoming midterm elections. However, he insisted that possible probes from Republicans were not part of his thought process when considering retirement.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has been one of Fauci’s most prominent critics, vowing to investigate Fauci should Republicans take the majority in the Senate, as previously reported.
“If we win in November, if I’m chairman of a committee, if I have subpoena power, we’ll go after every one of [Fauci’s] records,” Paul said during an interview with Fox News. “We’ll have an investigator go through this piece-by-piece because we don’t need this to happen again.”
Fauci has been hinting at retirement for months, revealing in March that he was scaling back his responsibilities. He explained to ABC that he “can’t stay at this job forever” unless his staff finds him “slumped over” at his desk one day. “I’d rather not do that,” he added.
Fauci’s critics took to social media to celebrate his retirement plans publicly.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote, “Finally, something to cheer for.”
Furthermore, in a May interview, Fauci maintained that he would not remain in his position if President Donald Trump were reelected in 2024, as previously reported.
When asked if he would “stay” in his position under Trump, Fauci told CNN, “Well, no to the second question…if you look at the history of what the response was during the administration, I think, you know, at best, you can say it wasn’t optimal.”
Arizona gubernatorial frontrunner Kari Lake responded to his comments, tweeting, “Well duh…it’s pretty hard to hold an official position from behind bars. #ArrestFauci.”
