Republican senators are calling Dr. Anthony Fauci to resign; these lawmakers maintain that Fauci lost the people’s confidence, due to controversy about the origins of coronavirus.
Holding Fauci accountable
In an interview this week with Republican Sens. Marco Rubio, Marsha Blackburn, and Tom Cotton, they made remarks regarding Fauci’s credibility issues.
Blackburn explained that Fauci should step down and the Biden administration should urge him to give up his post.
Rubio, on the other hand, mentioned that Fauci had been withholding information for 16 months. He continued, saying that Fauci dismissed plausible explanations as to the virus’ origins and lied to Congress.
Marsha Blackburn, Marco Rubio and Tom Cotton are calling on Dr. Fauci to resign, saying he has "lost the confidence of the American people" and if he won’t step down, the Republican senators are urging President Biden to fire him.https://t.co/Qt2EYH6tlv
— Jack A.H. Law 🧠(@JackLaw48203440) June 10, 2021
Rubio also added that Fauci (the nation’s top infectious disease expert) is expected to be a “fact-based” health official (instead of being a “pundit [twisting] the truth”) which goes with his personal judgment. He also added that if Biden is indeed committed to finding the truth about the origins of coronavirus, he has to fire Fauci.
Meanwhile, Tom Cotton added that Fauci “lost confidence” from the people, due to his politicized statements. Cotton added that if Fauci doesn’t resign, then President Biden needs to give him the boot.
Republicans’ calls for Fauci to resign come after the emails released last week through the Freedom of Information Act. The emails revealed Fauci’s flip-flopping recommendations on wearing masks; these emails also show Fauci ignored warnings from other researchers that the virus seemed to be “engineered” in a lab.
Fauci: Attacks on him are attacks on science
On Wednesday, Dr. Fauci responded to these tirades of criticism by stating the attacks directed at him are “attacks on science.” He also added in an interview with MSNBC that all of the things he said from the very start are “fundamentally based on science.”
FAUCI: "A lot of what your seeing as attacks on me quite frankly are attacks on science because all of the things I have spoken about from the very beginning have been fundamentally based on science." pic.twitter.com/O1oVkueEKR
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 9, 2021
Fauci also said that, at times, these statements are “inconvenient truths” for Americans…and because of these truths, he received pushbacks. Fauci then added that if people go against him as scientists and as public health officials, they are not only attacking him but are also attacking science.
He added that anyone who sees what is going on could clearly recognize what is going on – that “science and the truth” are under attack.
Amid criticism, the White House is defending Dr. Fauci. Previously, press secretary Jen Psaki called Fauci an “undeniable asset” to the U.S. during the pandemic. Biden also made remarks, saying that he is indeed “very confident” in Fauci.
This week, Jeffrey Zients, White House COVID-19 Task Force Director, also defended Fauci. He lauded Fauci’s “[invention] and [investment]” in the mRNA of the vaccine platform in the past two decades.
Zients opined that this process is what created the vaccine, thanking Fauci for his efforts.
