“You Belong in Prison, Dr. Fauci” Fauci Condemns Hostile Rhetoric in Congressional Hearing
Anthony Fauci (Greg Nash/Pool via AP)
Dr. Anthony Fauci expressed deep concerns about escalating hostilities during a recent House Oversight meeting, where he clashed with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The tension in the hearing, Fauci fears, could incite further death threats against him. Greene’s confrontational remarks included denying Fauci’s medical title, stating, “You’re not a doctor, you’re Mr. Fauci in my few minutes,” and accusing him of “crimes against humanity.”
In a later appearance on CNN’s “The Source” with Kaitlan Collins, Fauci lamented the shift in congressional discourse, noting the unprecedented level of vitriol. “I have testified literally hundreds of times over the last 40 years, over Congress and there’s always been differences of opinion, differences of ideology and things like that,” he said.
“But the level of vitriol that we see now just in the country in general — but actually played out during this hearing was really quite unfortunate.” Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, emphasized that the purpose of such hearings should be to enhance preparedness for future crises.
“Because the purpose of hearings is to try and figure out how we can do better so that next time if and when we all faced with a pandemic we’d be better prepared and we could benefit if mistakes were made; we identify them and we try to correct them for the future,” he explained. The doctor also highlighted the direct consequences of such inflammatory rhetoric, noting that it has led to serious threats against his and his family’s safety.
“Whenever somebody gets up, whether it’s the news media you know, Fox News does it a lot or it’s somebody in the 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 could like clockwork, the death threats, go way up,” Fauci recounted.
Greene’s accusations were stark, insisting on criminal charges against Fauci: “We should be writing a criminal referral because you should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity. You belong in prison, Dr. Fauci.” Fauci found the call for his criminal prosecution particularly distasteful and indicative of a dangerous escalation in political rhetoric, contributing to an environment where he continues to receive threats.
“So that’s the reason why I’m still getting death threats when you have performances like that unusual performance by Marjorie Taylor Greene,” he told Collins. This statement underscores the challenges faced by public health officials in a highly polarized atmosphere, where scientific discourse is often overshadowed by political conflicts.
