© AP / Gaston De CardenasFlorida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks to supporters during an event in Hialeah, Florida, August 23, 2022.
Fauci, 81, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the top medical adviser to the last seven presidents, announced Monday that he would retire at the end of the year.
"I'm so sick of seeing him."
During a rally in Orlando earlier today, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis slammed Dr. Anthony Fauci, saying "someone needs to grab that little elf and chuck him across the Potomac."
DeSantis, 43, is running for reelection this year with an eye on a 2024 White House bid. He won the Republican gubernatorial nomination uncontested Tuesday.
Fauci became a household name during the pandemic and was the subject of partisan insults by Republican lawmakers and former President Donald Trump, who labeled him a "disaster" and said he "usually did the opposite" of what the Dyker Heights, Brooklyn native advised.
The virologist said that the rhetoric led to "serious threats" against him and his family and he was given a federal security detail.
A West Virginia man was sentenced to three years in prison earlier this month for repeatedly threatening to kill Fauci, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient.
News of his retirement led many GOP lawmakers to call for an investigation into his leadership during the pandemic.
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