Elon Musk's attacks on Anthony Fauci 'disgusting,' says White House

The White House called attacks by Twitter Inc. owner Elon Musk on outgoing top medical adviser Anthony Fauci “disgusting” and “incredibly dangerous.”
 

“These personal attacks that we’ve been seeing are dangerous, on Dr. Fauci and other public health professionals as well. They are disgusting and they are divorced from reality,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday when asked about Musk’s tweets. 

“We will continue to call that out and be very clear about that,” added Jean-Pierre, who did not mention Musk by name.

Musk in a tweet on Sunday mocked the use of gender pronouns and called for Fauci to be prosecuted. “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci,” he wrote.

An earlier tweet Sunday also targeted Fauci with a meme about lockdowns, which aimed to minimize transfer of the virus by closing many in-person businesses and schools early in the pandemic.

Musk, who has styled himself as a champion of free speech, has rattled advertisers with his comments on Twitter and moves to change the social media platform’s content moderation policies.

On Sunday, Musk was booed for several minutes when he joined comedian Dave Chappelle on stage at a comedy show in San Francisco.

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will retire this month after 54 years in government. Fauci became the face of the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic, frequently appearing on television and in the White House press briefing room to give Americans guidance on the virus. 

Fauci’s support for face masks and lockdowns — along with his willingness to challenge doubts about the efficacy of Covid vaccines drew conservative ire. 

Republicans, who will take control of the House in January, have indicated they intend to probe the administration’s Covid response. Fauci last month said he would cooperate if Republicans ask him to testify. 

“If there are oversight hearings, I absolutely will cooperate fully and testify,” he said. “We can defend and explain and stand by everything that we’ve said, so I have nothing to hide.”

--With assistance from Justin Sink.