Chris Lange, FISM News
Fireworks erupted during Tuesday’s Senate hearing in which Dr. Anthony Fauci and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Rochell Walensky were grilled about their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During a heated exchange between Sen. Rand Paul (R) and Dr. Fauci, the Kentucky lawmaker accused the White House’s chief medical advisor of maligning fellow epidemiologists who have voiced legitimate concerns about his coronavirus mitigation efforts by labeling any opinion that differed from his as “criticism of science itself.”
“A planner who believes he is the science leads to an arrogance that justifies in his mind using government resources to smear and to destroy the reputations of other scientists who disagree with them,” said Paul. “This is not only antithetical to the scientific method, it’s cheap politics and it’s reprehensible,” he added. “Dr. Fauci, do you really think it’s appropriate to use your $420,000 salary to attack scientists that disagree with you?”
“No, I think in usual fashion, Senator, you are distorting everything about me,” Fauci shot back.
Paul pressed on: “More people have died now under President Biden than did under President Trump,” he said. “You are the one responsible, you are the architect — you are the lead architect for the response from the government. And now 800,000 people have died. Do you think it’s a winning success, what you’ve advocated for government?”
.@RandPaul just ENDED Fauci on LIVE TV
Fauci has no idea what to do with himself other than tremble in fear and whine about Rand Paul's "Fire Fauci" campaign
This is the GREATEST thing you'll WATCH today. LOL! pic.twitter.com/zhWHmrKAwb
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) January 11, 2022
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kans.), also a doctor, pressed Fauci on his investments in gain-of-function research linked to the Wuhan, China lab from whence the virus is believed to have originated. Following a fiery exchange on the topic, a visibly angry Fauci muttered, “What a moron!” into his live mic.
"What a moron."
— Dr. Fauci on a hot mic after a heated exchange with Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), who demanded one of Fauci's financial disclosures (which Fauci insists is already public). pic.twitter.com/NtN6NDsomW
— The Recount (@therecount) January 11, 2022
Senators also had the opportunity to question Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky about the agency’s inconsistent messaging and guidance missteps that have led to confusion and mistrust among many Americans.
Wearing two face masks as she spoke, Walensky defended the CDC’s Monday announcement that it was shortening recommended quarantine times for Americans infected with COVID-19 from 10 to five days as well as the agency’s about-face in dropping their recommendation for negative tests following the isolation period before returning to work and other public activities. Walensky also doubled down on face mask recommendations, pointing to an early-pandemic study on mask efficacy that has been widely panned for its flawed methodology.
During the hearing, Twitter users were quick to point out a glaring optic that seemed to encapsulate the communication failures of the nation’s highest-ranking medical experts throughout the course of the pandemic:
Dr. Fauci is maskless during testimony while Dr. Walensky double masks. The mixed messaging continues.
— Nicole Saphier, MD (@NBSaphierMD) January 11, 2022
Newsbusters’ Curtis Houck also chimed in, tweeting “CDC Director Walensky is double masked while testifying before the Senate, despite being triple vaccinated.”