Anthony Fauci says Trump was lucky to beat Covid-19 despite his age and weight: 'Could've been serious trouble'
Dr Anthony Fauci claimed this week that former President Donald Trump was "lucky" to survive Covid-19. Fauci was making this comment keeping in mind the ex-president's age and weight. "He could have gotten into serious trouble," the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden said of his predecessor. "I think he was quite fortunate." In an interview with The Telegraph, Fauci described Trump's White House as a coronavirus "superspreader."
Questions surrounding the former president's health and weight have swirled throughout his presidency. Trump announced on October 2 that both he and then-First Lady Melania Trump had contracted the deadly virus, sparking more curiosity about his health. His critics called him obese citing a physical that reportedly claimed he weighed 244 pounds and stood 6'3 tall. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of Trump's most vocal critics, once called him "morbidly obese."
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The New York Times made waves earlier this month as it published a report claiming the former president was a lot sicker with coronavirus than he made it out to be, citing “four people familiar with Trump’s condition." The newspaper said two of the people familiar with Trump's condition said his "prognosis became so worrisome" before he was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center that some doctors felt he would "need to be put on a ventilator."
Speaking to the Telegraph, Fauci said he enjoys a transparent level of support with the current administration as opposed to his relationship with the previous administration. The immunologist has returned to regular press conferences since Biden took office, and has expressed support for the latter's plans to stop the pandemic.
Fauci remembered being astounded when Biden said his administration would "go by the science" in its fight against the pandemic. "We’re going to let science rule. We’re going to go by the data, the evidence, and the science," he recalled Biden saying. "We’re going to make some mistakes, and when we do we’re not going to blame anybody. We’re just going to fix it." Fauci noted: "That was to me like, 'Oh my goodness!'"
It's worth noting that Fauci is the highest-paid federal government employee in the US, according to a Freedom of Information Act request by OpenTheBooks.com. He even surpasses the presidential salary, per the report. Federal salary data collected by OpenTheBooks.com found that Fauci made $417,608 in 2019, making him not only the highest-paid doctor in the federal government, but the highest paid out of all four million federal employees.
In comparison, Trump had a presidential salary of $400,000 in 2019. However, the former president was known to donate his salary.
In the two years leading up to 2019, Fauci made $384,625. According to a report in Forbes, in the 10-year period between 2010 and 2019, Fauci made $3.6M in salary. And since 2014, Fauci’s pay increased from $335,000 to the current $417,608. Now, the nation's top disease expert is set to make $2.5M in salary from 2019 through 2024, if he stays in his post through the end of President Joe Biden's administration, and doesn’t get a raise.
