Fauci hits out at GOP for making him a 'symbol of everything they don't like'

Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, shot back at "bizarre" criticism coming from conservative lawmakers and media figures, lamenting the obsession some GOP voices have with him.

Sen. Lindsey Graham kicked off the latest round of GOP finger-pointing directed at the doctor by demanding he visit the US-Mexico border, where law enforcement, government officials and aid workers are working to address an influx of migrants.

He started off a series of tweets with the phrase "paging Dr Fauci."

Mr Graham called the crowding at the border the nation's "biggest super spreader event."

The senator claimed that the migrants are being detained "on top of each other" and "dumped off in Texas."

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“If you are worried about the spread of COVID, you should be gravely concerned about what is happening at our southern border,” Mr Graham wrote in a series of tweets.

"Dr Fauci, does COVID-science justify President Boden's handling of migrants from Central America?" the senator asked.

Dr Fauci appeared on Fox News after Mr Graham sent the tweets.

During his appearance, Dr Fauci told Fox News host Neil Cavuto that Mr Graham was trying to rope him into an issue in which he has no involvement.

“I have nothing to do with the border,” Dr Fauci said.

He recognised that the influx of migrants had produced a "very difficult situation at the border," but said that as far as he knew officials from the Biden administration were doing "as best as they can" to end the crisis.

The doctor also brushed aside Mr Graham's invitation for him to visit the border.

“Having me down at the border, that’s really not what I do,” Dr Fauci said.

Prior to Mr Graham's demand for Dr Fauci to visit the border, the doctor was the target of a slew of attacks from other GOP figures.

Peter Navarro, Donald Trump's former trade adviser, called Dr Fauci a "sociopath and a liar" who had "nothing to do with the vaccine" during an appearance on Fox News.

He then suggested that somehow Dr Fauci was the progenitor of the virus.

“What is Fauci the father of?” he saoid. “Fauci is the father of the actual virus.”

During his appearance on Fox News with Mr Cavuto, Dr Fauci also responded to Mr Navarro's claim.

“How bizarre is that? Think about it for a second. Isn’t that a little weird? I mean, come on,” he said.

Dr Fauci also fielded attacks from former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and and Senator Marco Rubio.

Mr Meadows tried to paint Dr Fauci as a hypocrite for not criticising Mr Biden for "releasing thousands of COVID untested migrants into the US" and Mr Rubio tweeted that the doctor's job was not to "mislead or scare" Americans into doing the "right things."

Mr Rubio was referring to Dr Fauci's suggestion that people continue to wear face masks.

The doctor said the Republicans have projected all of their fears and frustrations onto him.

“I’ve been a symbol to them of what they don’t like about anything that has to do with things that are contrary to them, anything outside of their own realm,” he said.

When asked if he was bothered by the harassment he faced from GOP members, Mr Fauci seemed to shrug them off, saying he was too busy trying to “preserve the health and safety of the American people,” and that he “cannot be bothered with getting distracted with these people that are doing ad hominems.”