WASHINGTON - Billionaire Elon Musk’s public condemnation of top US health official Anthony Fauci is “dangerous” and “disgusting”, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday.
Mr Musk over the weekend had tweeted: “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci.” As the tweet went viral, he replied to his own post, adding: “Truth resonates.”
“These personal attacks are dangerous ... These are incredibly dangerous and should be called out,” Ms Jean-Pierre said on Monday. “They are disgusting and they are divorced from from reality.”
He also claimed the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases lied to Congress. The US has debunked that.
“Dr Fauci has served under seven Republican and Democratic presidents. We cannot forget that... His work on infectious disease from HIV Aids to Covid-19 has saved countless lives,” Ms Jean-Pierre said.
“We are fortunate, I should say, that he has devoted his career and his life and his exceptional talent to America’s public health.”
Mr Musk is the CEO of Twitter and of electric carmaker Tesla.
He was booed on stage for several minutes at a comedy show in San Francisco on Sunday after spending the weekend attacking former Twitter employees and Dr Fauci.
Many in attendance to see Dave Chappelle at Chase Centre – which has capacity for more than 18,000 – broke out into jeers as soon as the comedian asked them to “make some noise for the richest man in the world”.
“Cheers and boos, I see,” Chappelle said as Mr Musk, 51, waved and paced around on stage in footage later posted on YouTube. After the two raised their hands in reaction to the reception for the billionaire, the comedian quipped: “It sounds like some of them people you fired are in the audience.”
The billionaire has dismissed thousands of employees from San Francisco-based Twitter since closing his US$44 billion (S$60 billion) acquisition of the company six weeks ago.
Over the weekend, he accused his predecessors of running it “as a Democratic Party activist machine” and agreed with a follower who said Twitter’s handling of former president Donald Trump’s tweets amounted to election interference.
In other posts, Mr Musk baselessly suggested that Mr Yoel Roth, the former head of Twitter’s trust and safety division, is an advocate for sexualising children, and wrote that the company is “both a social media company and a crime scene”.
Dr Fauci will retire this month after 54 years in government. He 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.
Dr Fauci’s support for face masks and lockdowns – along with his willingness to challenge doubts about the efficacy of Covid-19 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.”
Mr Musk tweeted hours after his public appearance that the crowd’s reaction was “90% cheers & 10% boos,” but said it was the first time he’s been booed in person. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
