White House Chief Medical Adviser Anthony Fauci was spotted without a mask at a book party in Washington, D.C. despite the district's indoor mask mandate remaining in effect until Nov. 22.
Fauci was seen Tuesday repeatedly putting his mask on and taking it off at a book party for ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl. He told POLITICO he based his decision on whether to wear a mask or remove it on who he was around.
Author Sally Quinn approached Fauci, who has been a vocal supporter of mask mandates, and asked why he was holding his mask instead of wearing it.
"I said, 'You seem pretty ambivalent about your mask' because no one else was wearing one," Quinn told the news outlet. "He said, 'I just decided that if anyone came up that I didn’t know, I would put my mask on.'"
"He was being safe," she said. "He knew everyone was vaccinated. If it was someone we knew, he would trust them, and if it was somebody else, he didn’t."
In Playbook: Fauci out at a party at Cafe Milano maskless, prompting Sally Quinn to ask why he was so "ambivalent" https://t.co/fsjwYcU7xS pic.twitter.com/CMOtPqqshb
— Tara Palmeri (@tarapalmeri) November 19, 2021
This comes despite a Washington, D.C. indoor mask requirement, which has been in effect since Mayor Muriel Bowser imposed the mandate over the summer due to a spike in COVID-19 cases caused by the highly infectious delta variant.
Bowser, who has previously been caught violating her own mandate, announced earlier this week that the indoor mask requirement would be lifted in most public places starting Nov. 22.
Other politicians seen violating local mask mandates include President Joe Biden, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.