Anthony Fauci chokes up while talking about harassment of family

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the face of the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic, appeared emotional Monday during congressional testimony as he recounted the harassment and death threats he and his family continue to receive.

Appearing before Congress for the first time since retiring about 18 months ago, Fauci passionately defended his work in government and spoke of the challenges he’s experienced since becoming a punching bag for critics of the federal government’s pandemic response.

“Yes, there has been harassment of myself, my wife and my three daughters, emails, text messages, letters, everything,” Fauci said when pressed to describe the harassment he had experienced by Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.).

“There were credible death threats, two arrests. By ‘credible death threats,’ I mean someone who was clearly trying to kill me, so I basically needed protection services at all times,” Fauci continued. “It’s very troubling for me, and even more troubling because it involves my wife and three daughters.”

Fauci appeared to become emotional when mentioning his daughters and reached over to momentarily turn off his microphone.

“How does this make you feel?” Dingell asked, requesting that her microphone remain on.

“It’s terrible,” Fauci said, visibly still shaken.

“Are you still receiving threats today?” Dingell asked.

“Yes, I do,” Fauci responded. “Any time someone stands up and says I’m responsible for the deaths of people around the world, I get death threats.”

Dingell said it was “unacceptable” for Fauci to be subjected to such harassment, noting that Fauci has dedicated his life to science and public service for decades. She also expressed concern, a sentiment echoed by Fauci, that the death threats he has received could deter promising young scientists from pursuing careers in public life.

“I think this is a huge disincentive for younger people to want to go into public health and even science and medicine,” Fauci said, “because it’s clear that not only me — I’m a very high-profile figure — but many of my colleagues who are less visible than me receive threats every time they speak out in defense of what we’re trying to do to protect the American people.”

“When they see their colleagues being threatened, they say to themselves, ‘I don’t want to be there. Why should I be involved in that?’ And so we have potentially very talented people who are critical to maintaining the integrity and excellence of the public health enterprise in the United States,” he continued. “The best people don’t come because they see what their colleagues are going through and they’re unwilling to involve themselves or their families in that.”