By Edmund DeMarche | FoxBusiness

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top disease expert in the U.S., is the highest-paid federal government employee in the U.S.—surpassing even the president—according to a Freedom of Information Act request by OpenTheBooks.com.

Fauci pulled in $417,608.00 in 2019—his largest haul ever—and in the previous two years earned $384,625.00. Forbes reported that from 2010 to 2019, Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, earned $3.6 million.

Fauci has been embraced by many in the media and Hollywood who portrayed him as a calming presence during a tumultuous Trump administration. But he also has his share of detractors who say he was inconsistent with his messaging at the beginning of the pandemic and see him as a career bureaucrat relishing in his newfound stardom.

The Forbes report pointed to an interview Fauci had with actor Matthew McConaughey in August 2020. The actor asked him if he had millions invested in COVID-19 vaccines and Fauci responded, “Matthew, no…I got zero. I am a government worker. I have a government salary.”

The NIH did not immediately respond to an email from Fox Business.

Fauci on Monday called President Biden’s decision to reinstate travel restrictions—and add South Africa to the list— “prudent” in a round of television interviews Monday.

“We have concern about the mutation that’s in South Africa,” Fauci told “CBS This Morning.” “We’re looking at it very actively. It is clearly a different and more ominous than the one in the U.K., and I think it’s very prudent to restrict travel of noncitizens.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report