‘I once opened an envelope that contained a ‘puff of powder’ I thought was anthrax or ricin – Dr Fauci opens up on threats he faced working for Trump

Joe Biden’s Chief Medical Adviser and the United States’ top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci has revealed how hard it was working for Trump, revealing he faced so many death threats and last year he opened a letter that was filled with a “puff of powder.”

While the substance later turned out to be benign, he said he feared it was either lethal anthrax or ricin.

In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stated his relief at now working for Biden and said despite the enormous political pressure he faced from Trump he never considered retiring.

Detailing his experience, Fauci said when he opened the letter, a powder immediately covered his face and chest.

His beefed-up security detail, which was brought on after he began receiving threats, advised Fauci to stay still before a hazmat team “sprayed him down.”

“It was a benign nothing,” Fauci said of the substance found in the envelope.

“But it was frightening. My wife and my children were more disturbed than I was. I looked at it somewhat fatalistically. It had to be one of three things: A hoax. Or anthrax, which meant I’d have to go on Cipro for a month. Or if it was ricin, I was dead, so bye-bye.”

Fauci said he began receiving death threats on March 28 last year, not long after Trump gave him a high-profile role in the fight against COVID-19.

Fauci and Trump often seemed at odds during the former president’s final year in office as Trump was unhappy with Fauci’s science-driven approach to the pandemic.

Fauci said Trump would sometimes call him after he gave an interview, asking why he didn’t provide a more “positive” outlook on the pandemic.

Other advisers, like former chief of staff Mark Meadows, would call Fauci to ask why he had contradicted the president, according to the NY Times report.

At a White House press briefing last week, Fauci said it was “liberating” to no longer be working with Trump.