Dr. Anthony Fauci on Friday declined a request to appear voluntarily before a second Senate panel after majority Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee voted along partisan lines last week to hold the longtime infectious disease expert in contempt.
In a pointed letter to Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, a lawyer for the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said any effort to compel him to appear before a Senate subcommittee, after a contentious July 29 hearing, would be to "impermissibly harass or degrade Dr. Fauci for political purposes.”
Where is Sir Bedevere when we need him?
Sheesh, leave that man alone.
It’s so sad that they’re still harping on this, and it’s disgusting how they pile on him now that they have the power.
Tony Fauci shrank my penis!
… it grew back.
He should quote Gilfoyle from Silicon Valley:
Thanks for asking. I’m going to put this as delicately as I know how. You can chortle my balls.
Gilfoyle was Canadian! The enemy!
When I call my dog, he comes and I kick him, he doesn’t come again the second time I call him.
This should have been obvious from the moment the fascists invited Zelensky to the white house, and brought him straight into a room to ambush him in-front of the media.
Everything fascists do is in bad faith. They do not care about the truth or the meaning of words. It’s all a performance to disinform and misdirect.
Its sad they think their ambush was any kind of gotcha for the Zell, they embarassed the shit out of themselves.
I still jokingly ask if someone even said thank you when presented with a basic reasonable inquiry I cant answer or want to ironically/arbitrarily rebuff
They got the sound bites they needed to enrage their rabid base for another week, it was all they were after
Losers
Disgraceful losers
You probably shouldn’t kick your dog.
And you definitely shouldn’t let a rabid dog named Rand Paul get close enough to bite again.
If I were him (which I’m not), I wouldn’t appear before any political panels after what they did to him the first thing. All the panellists want is sound bites to make him look bad.
If only it were just sound bites.
They want to put him in prison because that’s what the nutjobs in their base want. They can (and have before) combed through testimony to find any discrepancies to charge people with perjury. They would do the same with Fauci, except Biden granted a pardon to Fauci. But that pardon wouldn’t cover any new testimony Fauci gives.
So their plan was to bring in Fauci, ask him a bunch of questions, if even a single word can be interpreted to mean anything that could be considered false, then they charge him for perjury.
Which is why Fauci took the 5th on every question last time. It’s not that he’s done anything incriminating (he was pardoned anyway) it’s that he knows the point of the whole exercise is to incriminate him with perjury.
This is why we need to abandon this mentality that pleading the 5th is the same thing as admitting guilt. Not only is it fundamentally not the same thing, and explicitly distinct from it, but it’s also our first line of defense against abuses of power and politically targeted libel/smear campaigns such as this.
Well the main problem is using the justice system to prosecute political enemies. This led to abusing perjury laws, so now pleading the 5th is the prudent thing to do when you’re a political enemy of those in power.
so now pleading the 5th is the prudent thing to do when you’re a political enemy of those in power.
🌎👨🚀🔫👨🚀
Always has been.
They want him executed. They’re horny for their enemies to be put to death by the state.
It’s not that he’s done anything incriminating (he was pardoned anyway).
This assumption is too strong. Imagine making this same statement about Jan 6th rioters.
Are you seriously comparing Fauci to the Jan 6 rioters?
Yes. The rioters certainly did something incriminating before they were pardoned.
Claiming Fauci didn’t do anything incriminating, but was pardoned anyway, is pure speculation.
Except that we have live footage of the J6 rioters committing federal crimes up to and including sedition, insurrection, and treason; which was broadcast on national television and replayed extensively for weeks. And not one but two investigations by a special counsel who successfully brought the case before a grand jury which concluded that a crime did likely occur. And multiple FBI investigations resulting in hundreds of convictions, to boot.
Versus Anthony Fauci, where the only even suggestion that he was involved in any wrongdoing comes directly from the same propagandists and conspiracy theorists who were responsible for the J6 riot and have brazenly weaponized the justice department on sham trials in retaliation against perceived political opponents.
Yeah, you’ve got no paddle in this argument. He was pardoned preemptively because it was already obvious that these freaks would try to persecute him.
Claiming Fauci committed any crimes is what’s pure speculation here. And besides, the burden of proof is on the accuser. They couldn’t come up with anything to incriminate him before, so harassing him again about it is akin to double jeopardy.
He was pardoned preemptively because it was already obvious that these freaks would try to persecute him.
Or he did something that needed pardoning. Which is more likely.
Claiming Fauci committed any crimes is what’s pure speculation here. And besides, the burden of proof is on the accuser.
Funding research abroad is not a crime. Covering up a paper trail leading to gain of function bat virus experimentation is.
We don’t know that he didn’t do anything indictable. We do know he can’t be indicted.
harassing him again about it is akin to double jeopardy.
Agreed. Pleading the 5th is the only sane response.
Or he did something that needed pardoning. Which is more likely.
…you claim without evidence while accusing me of speculating about his innocence…
Covering up a paper trail leading to gain of function bat virus experimentation.
Is there any reason to believe he did this other than right-wing conspiracy nutjobs say he did? Just cause Cousin Earl talks about it at holidays is no reason to indict.
We don’t know that he didn’t do anything indictable
We don’t know that you didn’t do anything indictable either. Fortunately for you that’s not enough to bring you to court. That’s not how our justice system works.
Pleading the 5th is the only sane response.
Which is what he did. And now he’s refusing to play their games because he knows they have no cards.
A whole bunch of people believe in conspiracy theories over science, so they want to put a prominent scientist into prison.
Do you think it’s an assumption that conspiracy theories have made people stupid?
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Is the possibility that Covid-19 leaked from a lab a conspiracy theory?
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Was there a DARPA research group planning to insert a "proteolytic cleavage site” into bat coronaviruses?
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Did Niaid award a research grant to a company, who then issued a sub-award to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China (and intentionally hide communications from public view)?
Not questioning government sources is the stupid part (particularly with this administration, but also with others).
Yes Fauci was pardoned, but we can’t assume him to be innocent.
Stay off Facebook.
The only speculation here is that these three bullet points are related.
Is the possibility that Covid-19 leaked from a lab a conspiracy theory?
How the problem originated isn’t relevant to the people whose job is to deal with the problem.
Was there a DARPA research group planning to insert a "proteolytic cleavage site” into bat coronaviruses?
I think you may have gone too deep into covid conspiracies. No idea what you’re even talking about here.
Did Niaid award a research grant to a company, who then issued a sub-award to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China (and intentionally hide communications from public view)?
Yes, there were grants to a research lab. Not sure what that indicates other than they wanted access to the results of the research. It’s not at all disputed that there are research grants and the research lab in Wuhan received a research grant.
The problem with conspiracy theories is the generally fall apart when as soon as you ask “why would they want to do this?” So why would China want to intentionally release a virus on it’s own people in the hopes that it would spread to the rest of the world? How would that benefit them in any way?
Yes, it’s possible that the virus accidentally came from the lab in Wuhan. But how does having testimony from a guy that’s retired help determine that? What does it even accomplish even if you did determine that a virus came from a lab in Wuhan?
Sounds to me like you just want someone to say “you were right, the virus came from a lab.” So ok…
You were right, the virus came from a lab.
Are you happy now? Has your life suddenly gotten better? Will you stop pretending that fascists cracking down on individual scientists is a good thing to do because you now feel emotionally vindicated about some internet arguments you had around five years ago?
How the problem originated isn’t relevant to the people whose job is to deal with the problem.
If they caused the problem it is relevant.
No idea what you’re even talking about here.
Leaked Grant Proposal Details High-Risk Coronavirus Research This research plan was rejected inside the US, so abroad is the likely place where this could be done.
It’s not at all disputed that there are research grants and the research lab in Wuhan received a research grant.
The point is that fauci’s associates were deliberately keeping communications a secret. Literally a conspiracy.
“why would they want to do this?”
Maybe they want to hide that they funded the gain of function research that lead to millions of deaths.
how does having testimony from a guy that’s retired help determine that? What does it even accomplish even if you did determine that a virus came from a lab in Wuhan?
To find out exactly what research Wuhan was doing for Niaid, and who authorised it. This would lead to even stricter controls on gain of function research worldwide.
why would China want to intentionally release a virus on it’s own people
I doubt they would. Most likely the virus was accidentally “walked out of the lab”.
Will you stop pretending that fascists cracking down on individual scientists is a good thing.
I don’t care who cracks down. I don’t want dangerous viruses to be artificially mutated to make them even more dangerous for humans.
Are you under the impression that Dr. Anthony Fauci worked at the research lab in Wuhan?
This is like wanting to arrest a fire fighter because you suspect someone else burned down your house. You went in too deep on the anti-vax conspiracy theories, bud.
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(which I’m not)
“My ‘I’m not Dr. Fauci’ T-shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my shirt”
They’re trying to make Trump and the GOP’s complete fuckup of covid his fault.
This regime is a fucking circus.
I don’t get their strategy here. The current administration is what’s causing all the food issues and measles outbreaks. Fauci has nothing to do with it.
Cause when they kept blaming Biden for all the shit they were causing was logical?
It’s called a scapegoat
Bread and Circuses
They don’t care about that.
Fauci knows things and is intelligent, made Donvict look stupid and he is the face of being told to do things that the conservative Karens didn’t want to do: lockdowns, social distancing, wearing masks, and getting vaccinated.
Distraction from their own record. Release the Epstein files and stop protecting the child rapist in the White House.
Right now Republicans have no real wins that they can campaign on, and the ones that they can are unpopular even amongst their base. They have to drum up controversy and draw the spotlights to something, and this is the best they’ve got.
There is no strategy, only hatred directed towards people who happened to be right when they were wrong.
It’s ego all the way down.
This makes the most sense. They are struggling without him and instead of admitting they were wrong are taking out their anger on him.
They have to keep their fiction up, that the 2020 election was stolen, that Fauci somehow did worse than the president, and on and on.
Bring him in and rake him over the coals. Let the dems scream and holler.
Then when legitimate criminals of the current admin are brought in they will claim that the dems got all fussy with fauci so why are they doing this now.
Which will rally their base and strengthen their vote.
weirdest witch hunt, feel bad for the guy and his family
Feel bad for America. Fauci means anyone with an IQ over 30 will avoid this position in government in the future. Next pandemic will feature government ivermectin suppositories.
Good, it will get rid of all the stupid for us
Not all that weird when you understand their emotional state. Well, okay, they are weird, but at least it is explainable…
These people are like dogs that hate the veterinarian because they don’t like taking medicine. You can understand a dog not understanding anything about medicine, but people in elected office? I’d say it’s shameful behaviour, but these people know no shame.
It’s probably an attempt to distract from the economy and the Iran war.
I wouldn’t say probably, it’s definitely that.
If I were a dog I’d be more worried about him checking my temperature.
I’ve never had a dog so much as flinch for a shot.
Dr Fauci, you seem like a sensible person.
Come to NZ we like sensible people here.
Which parties are rising over there?
Far right extremism seems to be on the rise everywhere.
That’s the hardest thing for me to wrap my head around. How are people so shitty fucking everywhere?
billionaire money
look at what elon is doing and just assume he’s the moron if the bunch and bad at hiding it
Because conditions are getting worse. People are being stretched thin, so they’re looking for a radical change. And the far right is promising radical improvements, even if those promises are full of shit. It also doesn’t help that many leftists have made a sport out of purity testing, pushing away many people who skew left in their political opinions but don’t follow the hive mind.
I think it’s just been too long since a lot of people have been exposed to the horrors of conflict. I think wars tend to harden a people and make them more conservative and insular, and then in the peace they remember how awful the war was for their parent or something and swing the other way. But eventually that awful feeling goes away and everyone wants to see who has the biggest dick all over again.
The recent rise in the far right in western countries is probably a combination of American influence and the massive growth in immigration. There have always been fascists and neo-nazis in these countries, but they have grown in popularity due to American influence and rising immigration.
The growth of English as a lingua franca on the internet has created a lot of cultural and political exchange between the US and western countries. The consistent parade of jingoism, fascism, and white supremecy in the US has inspired similar far-right movements in these countries. The US was an apartheid state only 60 years ago, and the civil rights movement ended in political violence, with MLK and Malcolm X being assassinated. That’s not to say American culture is evil or that the world shouldn’t have cultural exchange with the US, but problems that the US has failed to address have spilled over to the rest of the world.
The spike in immigration, caused by cheap transportation, the Internet, Schengen, and the Arab Spring, has also helped trigger far right thinking in Europe and other western countries.
Propaganda, which is a form of highly-crafted group emotional manipulation much more than it is any form of informational content, has a LOT to do with enabling and perpetuating emotion-based thinking, which in turn enables this lurch to the right which benefits only a scarce few among us, who are the ones paying for all the emotion-triggering propaganda.
Mexico and Brazil beg to differ.
Is there, like, double jeopardy protection on contempt of congress charges?
