(Oct 12): Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, says he was taken out of context in a new campaign advertisement that praises President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. “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. “In my nearly five decades of public service, I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate,” Fauci, 79, said in his statement. Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said in an emailed statement that the comments in the ad “are Dr. Fauci’s own words. The video is from a nationally broadcast television interview in which Dr. Fauci was praising the work of the Trump administration.

Source: The Edge Markets October 11, 2020 22:41 UTC