During an interview that aired on CBS’s Face The Nation over the weekend, Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health went after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and other Republican agitators for their relentless disregard for the truth amid the struggle to contain COVID-19. After host Margaret Brennan pointed out how Cruz had insisted to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland that Fauci should be prosecuted (for supposedly lying to Congress about the nature of U.S.-funded research), Fauci laughed and said:
‘I have to laugh at that. I should be prosecuted? What happened on January 6, Senator?’
President Biden, who is returning to the White House shortly, will have an in-person briefing with members of his COVID-19 response team and Dr. Fauci to provide an “update on the Omicron variant and the Administration’s response.”
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) November 28, 2021
Fauci’s implication would obviously seem to be that Cruz should be the one worried about prosecution in light of his role in inciting the mob that stormed the Capitol in January. Cruz was a chief promoter of the lies about the integrity of last year’s presidential election that the rioters used as an inspiration. Meanwhile, asked whether he thinks that attacks on him are meant to deflect criticism from ex-President Trump, Fauci added as follows:
‘Of course. You have to be asleep not to figure that one out… I’m just going to do my job, and I’m going to be saving lives, and they’re going to be lying… All I want to do is save people’s lives, and I mean, anybody who’s looking at this carefully realizes that there’s a distinct anti-science flavor to this. So if they get up and criticize science, nobody’s going to know what they’re talking about. But if they get up and really aim their bullets at Tony Fauci, well, people can recognize — there’s a person there. So it’s easy to criticize. But they’re really criticizing science. Because I represent science. That’s dangerous… If you damage science, you are doing something very detrimental to society, long after I leave.’
Check out Fauci’s remarks below:
Dr. Fauci on Ted Cruz saying he should be prosecuted: "I should be prosecuted? What happened on January 6, senator?"
And on Republicans scapegoating him: "That's okay. I'm just gonna do my job, and I'm gonna be saving lives, and they're gonna be lying." pic.twitter.com/fJm1Hh8lSJ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 28, 2021
Instead of carefully approaching COVID-19, most Republicans in positions of prominent leadership have stuck to their conventional, relentless obstruction, going against the documented best practices to fight the disease without fully documented evidence backing them up. Just this Sunday morning on Fox, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) suggested that getting infected with COVID-19 and thereby obtaining so-called natural immunity against the virus could be better than getting vaccinated in terms of the level of protection — although as reported by journalist Justin Baragona, “a brand new study shows that those with booster shots have 53 times more antibodies than unvaxxed people who recently recovered from [COVID-19].” When are these people going to start being more serious about this?
Fauci on Cruz telling the attorney general he should be prosecuted:
“Yeah. I have to laugh at that. I should be prosecuted? What happened on Jan. 6, senator?https://t.co/3XBoqXkSOB
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) November 28, 2021
