behind his back
An NIH employee has reportedly been using a pseudonym to bash Fauci on a conservative website
It turns out the prolific managing editor for the conservative website RedState, who has spent months bashing Dr. Anthony Fauci for his role in the U.S.'s coronavirus response, actually works for the same federal agency as the target of his criticism, The Daily Beast reports.
The Daily Beast discovered the writer, who uses the pseudonym "streiff" for his posts, is William Crews, a public affairs specialist for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the same National Institutes of Health branch that is headed by Fauci. On RedState, Crews has described the pandemic as a "massive fraud" and baselessly accused his colleagues at the NIAID of contributing to a left-wing conspiracy to undermine President Trump and destroy the U.S. economy.
When it comes to Fauci, Crews has grown increasingly aggressive in his criticism. Back in March in the early days of the pandemic, one post actually heaped praise on Fauci, calling him one of "the most respected experts on infectious diseases in the world," but Crews eventually went on to refer to Fauci as a "mask Nazi" who failed Trump "at every turn."
Through his posts insisting virus mitigation efforts have no basis in science, Crews has reportedly been contributing to the coronavirus disinformation campaign about which his superiors at NIAID have expressed concern. After the Daily Beast informed NIAID of some of Crews' posts, the agency said he would "retire" from his position, but did not elaborate further on the situation. Read more at The Daily Beast.