Dr. Anthony Fauci said in a new interview that he is considering stepping away from the position he'd held since 1984.
“I certainly am because I’ve got to do it sometime,” Fauci, 81, said.
“I can’t stay at this job forever, unless my staff is going to find me slumped over my desk one day. I'd rather not do that,” he added.
Fauci was appointed to his position in 1984 during the Reagan administration.
Paul, who has clashed with Fauci during multiple congressional hearings, said Fauci has become has become a “dictator-in-chief.”
“No one person should have unilateral authority to make decisions for millions of Americans,” Paul, a doctor, said.
Fauci and his agency had not responded to requests for comment on the measure.
“I have said that I would stay in what I’m doing until we get out of the pandemic phase, and I think we might be there already,” Fauci said. “If we can stay in this, then we’re at a point where I feel that we’ve done well by this. But I don’t have any plans right now to go anywhere, but you never know.”
The doctor also said he doesn’t have many interests outside of health.
“I unfortunately am somewhat of a unidimensional physician-scientist-public health person. When I do decide I’m going to step down—whenever that is—I’m going to have to figure out what I’m going to do,” he said. “I'd love to spend more time with my wife and family. That would be nice.”