Billionaire Elon Musk’s public condemnation of prime U.S. well being official Anthony Fauci is “harmful” and “disgusting,” and ought to be referred to as out, White Home Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre instructed reporters on Monday.

“They’re disgusting, and they’re divorced from actuality, and we are going to proceed to name that out and be very clear about that,” Jean-Pierre stated on Monday. She praised Fauci’s dealing with of public heath crises, together with the coronavirus pandemic.

Musk over the weekend had tweeted: “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci.” Because the tweet went viral, the CEO of Twitter and of electrical automobile maker Tesla Inc replied to his personal submit, including: “Fact resonates.”

Fauci, who stated he deliberate to retire in December as President Joe Biden’s prime medical adviser and prime U.S. infectious illness official, has handled the thorny questions round well being crises from HIV/AIDS to avian flu and Ebola.

The veteran immunologist has served as an adviser to seven U.S. presidents starting with Republican Ronald Reagan and has had over 50 years of public service.

However it was his dealing with of Covid – and his blunt assessments from the White Home podium that People wanted to alter their conduct in gentle of the pandemic – that made him a hero to public well being advocates whereas serving below former President Donald Trump, a villain to some on the precise and an uncommon movie star amongst bureaucratic officers used to toiling in obscurity.

The US leads the world in recorded Covid-19 deaths with a couple of million.

Fauci has stated he has confronted dying threats. He endured criticism from Trump and from numerous conservatives who objected to safeguards resembling vaccination, social distancing and masking that he advocated to attempt to restrict the lethality of the pandemic.

Republicans additionally threatened to probe Fauci in the event that they acquired management of Congress within the midterm elections, during which they gained management of the Home of Representatives whereas the Democrats narrowly retained management of the Senate.