CBS News
Dr. Anthony Fauci turned down millions to leave government work fighting infectious diseases
As director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci helped lead the U.S. government’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. In a wide-ranging interview with CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jonathan LaPook for “CBS News Sunday Morning,” Dr. Fauci reveals he was offered millions of dollars to leave his top spot in government to join major corporations.
The interview will be broadcast on Sunday, June 16 on CBS and streamed on Paramount +.
In his exclusive conversation with Dr. LaPook, Dr. Fauci talks about his work in the COVID-19 fight; his earlier experience helping find answers to the epidemic of HIV/AIDS; his childhood in New York City; his reaction to hostile questioning at a recent congressional hearing; and his new memoir, “On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service” (to be published June 18 by Viking Press).
To watch this excerpt from the interview click on the video player above.
DR. JON LAPOOK: People have accused you of getting offers of money from pharma and this, that, and the other thing. You have been offered money to leave the NIH, right, and join, say, pharma, right?
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI: Right. Or private equity.
LAPOOK: Or private equity. How many times your current salary have you been offered about?
FAUCI: So, at the time that I was getting offered it … I was making $125,000, $200,000. Then I would get offered a job that would get me $5 million, $6 million, $7 million a year.
LAPOOK: So, why didn’t you take it?
FAUCI: Because I really felt what I was doing was having an impact on what I cared about, which was the health of the country and, indirectly, the health of the world, because the United States is such a leader in science, medicine and public health that what we do, indirectly, spills over onto the rest of the world. And to me, that is priceless.
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CBS News
House Ethics Committee planned to vote Friday on whether to release report on Matt Gaetz
The House Ethics Committee, which has been conducting an investigation into sexual misconduct and obstruction allegations against Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, scheduled a vote for Friday on whether to release its report, according to three sources with knowledge of the committee’s work.
Hours after President-elect Donald Trump said he planned to nominate Gaetz to be attorney general, Gaetz resigned his congressional seat, effective immediately.
“I do not intend to take the oath of office for the same office in the 119th Congress, to pursue the position of Attorney General in the Trump Administration,” Gaetz said in his resignation letter obtained by CBS News
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that there was about an eight-week period during which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis could fill his seat by setting the date for a special election.
Now that Gaetz has resigned, it is unclear whether the panel will vote on releasing the report, since Gaetz is no longer in Congress.
There is precedent in Congress on the Senate side for an ethics committee report to become public after a member resigns from Congress, however. In 2011, this happened when Sen. John Ensign of Nevada resigned amid allegations that he tried to hide an extramarital affair.
But it’s not clear that that would apply to the House, leaving open the possibility that the report on Gaetz would not be released.
In June, the House Ethics Committee released a statement saying it was investigating a range of allegations against Gaetz, including sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, and bribery.
Multiple sources at the time told CBS News that four women had informed the House Ethics Committee that they had been paid to go to parties that included sex and drugs, and that Gaetz had also attended. The committee has Gaetz’s Venmo transactions that allegedly show payments for the women.
Gaetz has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has called the committee’s investigation a “frivolous” smear campaign.
Some of the allegations of sexual misconduct under review by the committee were also the subject of a previous Department of Justice probe into Gaetz. Federal investigators sought to determine if Gaetz violated sex trafficking and obstruction of justice laws, but no charges were filed.
The House Ethics Committee resumed its investigation into Gaetz in 2023, following the Justice Department’s decision not to pursue charges against him.
Gaetz has long blamed then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, also a Republican, for the probe. And Gaetz later led the movement to sack McCarthy as speaker.
CBS News
Democratic Congressman on the party’s messaging, focus
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11/13: The Daily Report – CBS News
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