dr Fauci erupts over calls for his arrest, calling it ‘insane’ and defending handling of COVID

dr Anthony Fauci has fought back those who want to prosecute him for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The now-retired Fauci, 82, called his accusers “insane” during an interview with CNN’s Jim Acosta on Saturday.

He said he and his family are still receiving death threats over his response to the 2020 pandemic – months after he stepped down from his role as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Acosta also asked Fauci about Elon Musk’s December tweet, which mocked transgender pronouns while calling for criminal charges. The message read, “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci.”

“What’s your answer to that?” asked the landlord.

“There is no answer to this madness, Jim. Sue me for what? what are they talking about I wish I could find out what the hell they’re talking about. I think they’re just walking in at the deep end,” ranted the nation’s top infectious disease expert.

dr Anthony Fauci lashed out at his critics during an interview with Jim Acosta on CNN Saturday

“It just doesn’t make sense to say something like that and it’s actually irresponsible,” he ranted.

Speaking about how his family is dealing with the negative publicity surrounding his leadership of the pandemic, Fauci said it’s “difficult.”

“I mean, they don’t like it when I keep getting death threats. Every time someone stands up and spreads any nonsense that is misinformation, disinformation and outright lies, someone somewhere decides they want to harm me and/or my family,” he said.

“That’s the part that’s really unfortunate … The rest is just madness, the things they say. But there are negative repercussions when people take it seriously and take it out on you and your family.’

The doctor described the view that having a “political opinion on a public health issue” was “unacceptable” because these issues create a “common enemy.”

During his tenure from 1984 to 2022, Fauci addressed the thorny issues surrounding health crises from HIV/AIDS to avian flu and Ebola.

The veteran immunologist has been an advisor to seven US Presidents, beginning with Republican Ronald Reagan, and has been in the public service for over 50 years.

At the time of Musk’s tweet, the White House expressed its full support for Fauci.

“They are disgusting and they are disconnected from reality and we will continue to emphasize that and say that very clearly,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters afterwards.

Speaking about how his family is dealing with the negative publicity surrounding his leadership of the pandemic, Fauci said it’s “difficult.”

On Friday, the House voted unanimously to release US intelligence on the origins of COVID-19, in a sweeping display of bipartisan support near the third anniversary of the deadly pandemic’s start.

The 419-0 vote was Congress’ final approval of the bill, sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk. It’s unclear if the president will sign the measure into law, and the White House said the matter is under review.

“I haven’t made that decision yet,” Biden said late Friday when asked if he would sign the bill.

The debate in the House was short and to the point: Americans have questions about how the deadly virus started and what can be done to prevent future outbreaks.

The vote passed 419-0 on Friday, with all members of Congress backing a motion to make public links to the Wuhan lab and documents on how the virus started

dr Anthony Fauci, Biden’s COVID advisor, who left government last year, said he still believes it was likely a natural event

“The American public deserves answers on every aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, chair of the House Intelligence Committee.

These include, he said, “how this virus came about and specifically whether it was a natural event or the result of a laboratory-related event.”

Led by the Republicans, the House of Representatives is focusing on the origins of the virus as the House of Representatives set up a select committee with a hearing earlier in the week to look at theories about how the pandemic started.

It offers a rare moment of bipartisanship despite the often heated rhetoric about the origins of the coronavirus and questions about the response to the virus from US health officials, including Fauci.

Pictured: The Wuhan Institute of Virology, where key data was deleted by Chinese scientists

House Republicans have used their new majority power to probe all aspects of the pandemic, including its origin, as well as what they claim officials’ efforts to hide the fact that it leaked from a Wuhan lab.

Days earlier, the GOP released emails showing that Fauci had commissioned a February 2020 paper to refute the possibility that COVID originated in a lab — before releasing the study weeks later at a White House news briefing became.

In February, Republicans sent letters to Fauci, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, Secretary of Health Xavier Beccera and others as part of their investigative efforts.

The letters do not require any cooperation from the recipient. In announcing the Republican staff report in December, Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, chairman of the virus subcommittee, said lawmakers would issue subpoenas if potential witnesses failed to cooperate.

Republicans have accused Fauci of lying to Congress when he denied in May that the National Institutes of Health conducts “gain of function” research — the practice of improving a virus in a laboratory to determine its potential effects in the human population to study the real world – in a virology laboratory in Wuhan.

Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, even called for Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special attorney to investigate Fauci’s statements.

At the time, Fauci called this criticism “nonsense.”

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk