President Donald Trump revoked Dr. Anthony Fauci’s security detail Thursday night. Fauci joins a growing list of former officials who have lost their government-provided protection since Trump was inaugurated on Monday.
The president has already revoked security for John Bolton, his former national security adviser, and Mike Pompeo, his former secretary of state. In addition, Trump rescinded security clearances for 51 intelligence officials who falsely claimed Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation.
“You know, when you work for the government, at some point, your security detail comes off,” Trump said during a Friday press conference. “You can’t have it forever, so I think it’s very standard.”
Referring to the affected officials, Trump remarked, “They all made a lot of money. They could hire their own security. I can give them some good numbers of very good security people.”
Earlier this week, Fauci drew additional attention after former President Joe Biden issued a preemptive pardon for the former NIH director just hours before Trump was officially sworn in.
“This guy went around giving everybody pardons,” Trump said in a Wednesday interview with Sean Hannity. “And you know the funny thing—maybe the sad thing—is, he didn’t give himself a pardon.”
