© J. Scott Applewhite/Pool/AFP via Getty ImagesDr. Anthony Fauci responds to questions by Sen. Rand Paul during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on July 20, 2021.
Dr. Anthony Fauci was chastised online on Sunday after critics discovered that the retired NIAID director, who was once the highest-paid federal U.S. government employee, is charging up to $100,000 for speaking engagements.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' rapid response director Christina Pushaw on Sunday tweeted a screenshot from the Leading Motivational Speaker's Agency's website, which lists Fauci as a "motivational" and "health care" keynote speaker with a price tag that ranges from $50,000 to $100,000.
The website describes Fauci as someone "who's career warrants execution under immense pressure that can alter the course of human existence. His work on domestic as well as global health issues has saved millions of lives. This high level of research, discovery and execution is amazing given the grave challenges he faces on a daily basis," the agency writes.
Outraged Fauci critics pounced on the former White House coronavirus task force member, accusing him of inflating his self-worth while emphasizing his role as one of the most controversial figures of the pandemic.
"Follow The Science Starting at 50k an hour," Substack writer Jordan Schachtel wrote.
"Gotta replace the 400K federal salary...," NewsBusters' Tim Graham replied.
"The grift that keeps on gifting," Kingsley Cortes, a conservative influencer and Trump 2020 campaign staffer, quipped.
Bitcoin and finance expert Saifedean Ammous tweeted, "Motivational? WTF is he motivating them to do? Triple mask? Gain of function?"
"The audacity of this man," Latina conservative influencer Jennifer Barreto-Leyva tweeted.
Fauci is slated to give the 2023 Yale Medical School commencement speech in May. Last year alone, Fauci reportedly delivered keynote speeches at the commencement ceremonies for University of Maryland, Roger Williams University in Rhode Island and The City College of New York.
The chief Biden medical adviser was once considered the highest-paid employee of the U.S. government - surpassing even the president, a Freedom of Information Act request revealed. In 2019, Fauci pulled in $417,608.00 - his largest haul ever — and in the previous two years earned $384,625.00. Forbes reported that from 2010 to 2019, Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, earned $3.6 million.
The Faucis saw their net worth expand from $7.5 million in 2019 to $12.6 million at the end of 2021, watchdog group OpenTheBooks discovered and shared with Fox News Digital. The increase came from the likes of investment gains, awards, compensation and royalties.
Fauci has been embraced by many in the media and Hollywood who portrayed him as a calming presence during a tumultuous Trump administration. But he also has his share of detractors who say he was inconsistent with his messaging at the beginning of the pandemic and see him as a career bureaucrat relishing in his newfound stardom.
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