Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, tore into Dr. Anthony Fauci, who served as President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor and was a key government spokesman during the COVID-19 pandemic, dropping an F-bomb during Wednesday’s congressional hearing.
Fauci was issued a subpoena by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., as part of a congressional investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and the federal government’s response to the pandemic. Paul, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and his Republican colleagues have long accused Fauci of misleading Congress and the American people about the origins of the virus, federal funding for research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the Chinese city where the virus first emerged and the nature of so-called gain-of-function research, which alters pathogens to study how they may become more transmissible or dangerous.
“Here I am sitting in front of you six years later saying, who the f–k do you think you were for doing that?” Moreno said. “It is a total disgrace what you did to this country.”
Moreno’s remarks came after he argued the government’s COVID-19 guidance, including mask mandates, social distancing recommendations and school closures, harmed Americans. He said “moronic” politicians’ implementation of Fauci’s guidance led to arrests, recounting the story of an Ohio mother who was arrested for not wearing a mask during an outdoor high school football game.
“When that story broke, I said to myself, I cannot stand idly on the side and watch this happen,” Moreno said. “It was about six years ago today that I decided I’m going to give up my businesses, sell them all, run for office, run for the United States Senate.”
Moreno then asked Fauci whether he would apologize to the American people, prompting Fauci to invoke the Fifth Amendment. Throughout the hearing, Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times rather than answer lawmakers’ questions.
RAND PAUL SEEKS CONTEMPT CHARGES AFTER FAUCI INVOKES FIFTH AMENDMENT MORE THAN 100 TIMES
At the beginning of his allotted time, Moreno called on audience members to stand if they had questioned the government’s COVID-19 guidelines and were made to feel “like less than a human being” or suffered consequences for failing to comply, such as being fired from their jobs or refusing the vaccine. Moreno’s request prompted audience members sitting behind Fauci to stand. Moreno asked Fauci to turn around and face them, but he refused.
Moreno accused Fauci of being more interested in rubbing elbows with celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, referring to a Zoom call Fauci participated in with her and more than a dozen other celebrities, than serving as a public health official.
Moreno’s fiery exchange with Fauci quickly drew praise from conservative commentators and Trump administration officials on social media.
“Fauci should go to jail. Full stop,” Fox News contributor Joe Concha wrote on X.
White House Communications Director Stephen Cheung praised Moreno’s line of questioning.
“Senator @BernieMoreno throwing a high-heat fastball!”
Jace Yarbrough, a Republican congressional candidate in Texas’ 32nd District and an Air Force veteran, thanked Moreno for confronting Fauci and described what he said was pressure placed on service members who declined the COVID-19 vaccine.
“I am one of the service members who refused the COVID shot,” Yarbrough wrote on X. “Many were removed from service, lost their livelihoods, or received career-ending reprimands simply for declining the shot.”
“Thank you @berniemoreno for taking this man to task and standing up for those who were targeted by his regime.”
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Philip Letsou, Moreno’s chief of staff, also reacted to the exchange, writing on X, “Never seen a moment quite like this in Congress.”
“We have no comment on anything Senator Moreno had to say other than he is completely wrong,” David Schertler, Fauci’s attorney, said in an email to Fox News Digital.
