Fauci Says He'll Retire Before Biden's Term Is Up

Dr. Anthony Fauci has served under seven presidents—and he's decided President Biden will be the last. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allegy and Infectious Diseases, tells CNN that he hasn't set a retirement date yet, but he will "very likely" step down before the end of Biden's current term, when he will be 84 years old. He tells Politico that he's not planning to stay on until COVID-19 has been eradicated. "We’re in a pattern now. If somebody says, ‘You’ll leave when we don’t have COVID anymore,’ then I will be 105," he says. "I think we’re going to be living with this."

Fauci, who has worked for the government for 55 years, says the possibility of Republicans in Congress making his life difficult after the midterm elections wasn't a factor in his decision. "They’re going to try and come after me, anyway. I mean, probably less so if I’m not in the job," he says. "I don’t make that a consideration in my career decision." Fauci says Republicans who have vowed to investigate his COVID response aren't going to find anything wrong with the science. “If that’s what you want to investigate, be my guest," he says. "My telling somebody that it’s important to follow fundamental good public health practices … what are you going to investigate about that?”

Fauci says he wants his legacy to be the fight against HIV/AIDS, which has long had bipartisan backing. He has advised every president since Ronald Reagan, and he says he managed to find common ground even with Donald Trump, who frequently criticized his COVID response and once called him a "disaster." "We developed an interesting relationship," Fauci tells Politico. "Two guys from New York, different in their opinions and their ideology, but still, two guys who grew up in the same environments of this city. I think that we are related to each other in that regard." (More Anthony Fauci stories.)