Topline
Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday blamed “political performances” by the likes of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and other right-wing figures for a spike in the number of death threats made against him and his family, hours after the government’s former top infectious disease expert attended a contentious Congressional hearing on the origins of COVID-19.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, at … [+]
Key Facts
In an interview with CNN, Fauci said whenever someone in the media or Congress makes a public statement blaming his policies for the deaths of a certain number of people or propagates a conspiracy theory about him creating the virus, “like clockwork, the death threats go way up.”
Calling the entire thing a “pattern,” the infectious disease expert said “performances like that unusual performance by Marjorie Taylor Greene in today’s hearing…drive up the death threats because there are a segment of the population out there that believe that kind of nonsense.”
Commenting on the contentious hearing, Fauci said it should have been focused on figuring out “how we can do better so next time, if and when we are faced with a pandemic,” adding if mistakes were made they should be identified and “we try to correct them for the future.”
Pointing out Greene’s attacks against him, Fauci said: “That’s not what we saw today…that was nothing to do with trying to do better unfortunately.”
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Crucial Quote
Fauci said: “It’s a pattern…whenever somebody gets up, whether it’s a news media, you know Fox News, does it a lot, or it’s somebody in Congress who gets up and makes a public statement that I’m responsible for the deaths of X number of people because of policies or some crazy idea that I created the virus – immediately you can, it’s like clockwork – the death threats go way up.”
Key Facts
The interview aired just hours after Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, faced a contentious hearing in Congress about the origins of COVID-19. During the hearing, Greene repeatedly refused to address Fauci as “doctor.” The right-wing lawmaker told the infectious disease expert “you’re not a doctor, you’re Mr. Fauci in my few minutes,” and said he should be in prison for “crimes against humanity.” Greene then accused Fauci and government agencies of “making up guidelines, like six-feet distancing and masking of children.” The lawmaker from Georgia received pushback from her party member and chair of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, who instructed her to address Fauci as “doctor” and follow the committee rules of decorum.