Report: Fauci rips recent Trump campaign ad, says he was taken out of context

Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on Sunday that he did not consent to a clip of him being used in an ad by the Trump campaign, adding that the footage is out of context.

“In my nearly five decades of public service, I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate. 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,” Fauci said in a statement to CNN.

Dr. Fauci did not consent to being featured in a Trump campaign ad about the president's coronavirus response & says his words were taken out of context. "In my nearly five decades of public service, I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate." https://t.co/PDJnXD7GdQ

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 11, 2020

The ad, titled “Carefully,” was released Saturday and promotes Trump’s response to the covid-19 pandemic. It followed his discharge from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after he was stricken with the virus. In the ad, a clip of Fauci plays in which the infectious disease expert says he “can’t imagine that anybody could be doing more.”

Trump campaign ads are now featuring misleading quotes from Fauci making it seem as though he endorses the White House’s coronavirus response pic.twitter.com/Vgd44nsren

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 11, 2020

The comments were from an interview Fauci did with Fox News’ Mark Levin, in which he praised federal health officials and the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force on how they were responding to the pandemic.

Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh told NBC News that it will continue to run the ad despite the false narrative.

“These are Dr. Fauci’s own words,” Murtaugh said. “The video is from a nationally broadcast television interview in which Dr. Fauci was praising the work of the Trump administration. The words spoken are accurate, and directly from Dr. Fauci’s mouth.”

Meanwhile, White House refused to allow Fauci or any of the medical experts on the coronavirus task force to appear on ABC’s “This Week,” host Jon Karl said.

.@jonkarl: “(Dr. Fauci) was more than willing to join us, but the White House wouldn’t allow you to hear from the nation’s leading expert on coronavirus. In fact, they wouldn’t allow any of the medical experts on the president’s own coronavirus task force to appear on this show.” pic.twitter.com/qi9diTBQeb

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 11, 2020

“He was more than willing to join us, but the White House wouldn’t allow you to hear from the nation’s leading expert on coronavirus,” Karl said at the start of the show.

Taking quotes out of context is one of the defining features of Trump campaign ads and online videos. They usually do it to attack Biden and Harris. https://t.co/1M1fxXBQQS

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 11, 2020