Dr. Anthony S. Fauci’s government security protection was canceled Thursday night and he has now hired his own security detail, according to a person familiar with the move.
Dr. Fauci, one of the nation’s top health officials for decades, had received death threats during the coronavirus pandemic, when he became a frequent target of conservative critics. In May 2022, a West Virginia man pleaded guilty to sending him and other federal officials emails that threatened to kill them and their families.
Dr. Fauci did not have Secret Service protection; he was protected by federal marshals, and later by a private contractor whose fees were paid by the government, the person said.
Dr. Fauci’s chief critic on Capitol Hill, Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, had publicly called for the security arrangement for Dr. Fauci to be withdrawn.
On Thursday, Mr. Paul wrote on social media that he had “sent supporting information to end the 24 hr a day limo and security detail for Fauci,” adding, “I wish him nothing but peace but he needs to pay for his own limos.”
Those comments came hours after Mr. Paul criticized a pre-emptive pardon for Dr. Fauci in an appearance on Fox News, saying that accepting the pardon Dr. Fauci was “accepting his guilt.”
He is the latest prominent former government official to lose his security protection since President Trump returned to the White House. The decision came one day after Mr. Trump revoked the State Department security details for his former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and another top aide, Brian Hook. Both men faced ongoing threats from Iran because of actions they took on Mr. Trump’s behalf during his first administration.
Mr. Trump has also pulled the Secret Service detail that had been protecting another of his high-profile critics, John R. Bolton, his former national security adviser.
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