Trump says Fauci and Bolton's safety is their problem as security ends

Stephanie Lai, Bloomberg News on Jan 24, 2025

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he would feel no responsibility if Anthony Fauci or John Bolton were attacked after he moved to strip their government security in the opening days of his presidential term.

“When you work for government, government, at some point your security detail comes off, and, you know, you can’t have them forever,” Trump told reporters in North Carolina, where he is touring hurricane-hit communities.

Trump said both men “made a lot of money” and could handle security arrangements on their own.

“I can give you some big numbers of very good security people,” Trump said. “They can hire their own security. They all made a lot of money. Fauci made a lot of money. They all did. So if they felt that strongly, I think that certainly I would not take responsibility.”

Bolton, who served as national security adviser in Trump’s first term, received his security detail because of threats on his life from Iran following the U.S. killing of Qassem Soleimani. In 2022, the Justice Department filed criminal charges against an Iranian official for attempting to hire a contract killer to target Bolton.

But since leaving the Trump White House, Bolton has traded barbs with the president, including in a memoir when the longtime Republican aide called his former boss “unfit” to hold the nation’s highest office.

“This, to me, is an act of war against the United States by the government of Iran in threatening current and former American officials for doing their jobs,” Bolton said in an interview with CNN on Tuesday. “This is the kind of character, or lack thereof, who’s now president.”

Fauci, who has been targeted for his role in steering the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic, has also been the target of threats on his life. In 2022, a West Virginia man pleaded guilty to sending Fauci emails threatening the doctor and his family.

Trump has repeatedly looked to settle scores with former government officials who criticized his actions since returning to power.

On his first day, Trump revoked the security clearances of dozens of former intelligence officials who signed a letter in the final days of the 2020 presidential election questioning the authenticity of an abandoned laptop belonging to President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, that contained damaging details of his drug and alcohol abuse.