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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Monday the political advertisement from President Donald Trump's reelection campaign featuring him should be taken down.

Appearing on CNN, Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, called the ad "really unfortunate and really disappointing."

Asked by Jake Tapper, anchor of "The Lead", whether he believes the Trump campaign should take the ad down, Fauci said, "I think so."

"It's so clear that I'm not a political person," Fauci continued. "And I have never -- either directly or indirectly -- endorsed a political candidate. And to take a completely out of context statement and put it in which is obviously a political campaign ad, I thought was really very disappointing."

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Trump Campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said there are no plans to take down the Fauci ad, which is airing in the key swing-state of Michigan.

Questioned Monday on CNN about possibly being featured in additional campaign ads, Fauci continued: "That would be terrible."

"I hope they don't do that because that would be kind of playing a game that we don't want to play," he said.

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President Donald Trump's campaign is running an online political ad that uses an image of his vice president, his Pentagon chief and his most senior military adviser watching the raid on ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from the Situation Room on Oct. 29, 2019.

"President Trump wants you to request your ballot," the ad says. Clicking on the ad, which includes the tagline "Paid for by Donald J. Trump for President, Inc," leads to the Trump campaign's voter sign-up page.

But the campaign didn't seek approval from Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley to use his image in the ad, a defense official said. “This photo, like many others, was not used with [Milley's] knowledge or consent,” said the official, who requested anonymity to speak about a sensitive topic.

The military has strict rules against uniformed service members participating in political campaigns, and the ad is just the latest example of the president or those around him pulling the nation's highest-ranking officer and other Defense Department officials into the political realm.

"As a matter of long-standing policy, military service members and federal employees acting in their official capacity may not engage in activities that associate the DOD with any partisan political campaign or elections, candidate, cause or issue," the DOD's website states in a post from March 2019.