Dr. Fauci admits receiving ongoing death threats due to political actions such as Marjorie Taylor Greene's at the Covid-19 hearing.
Fauci spoke with CNN's Kaitlan Collins on "The Source," explaining that whenever someone in the media or Congress publicly accuses him of being responsible for the deaths of a certain number of people due to policies or absurd theories of creating the virus, the death threats skyrocket. This has been a repeated pattern, he said.
He was questioned by the Republican members of the House Oversight Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic about the US' response to Covid-19, the origin of the virus, and the use of unofficial emails by some NIH officials.
Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia criticized mask mandates, called for Fauci to be prosecuted for "crimes against humanity," and refused to refer to him as a "doctor." This, according to Fauci, is what causes the increase in death threats.
"So that's why I'm still getting death threats. When you have instances like Marjorie Taylor Greene's unusual performance at today's hearing, those types of things happen, which then increase the death threats because there's a segment of the population that believes in such nonsense," he said.
CNN attempted to contact Greene's office for comment.
During a moving moment at the hearing, Fauci shared some of the threats he's faced during his tenure as the director of the NIAID, saying, "Everything from harassment through emails, texts, letters sent to me, my wife, my three daughters. There have been two instances where credible death threats were made, leading to the arrest of those individuals - credible death threats mean someone who was on their way to kill me."
Monday's hearing was Fauci's first public testimony on Capitol Hill since his retirement from government service in 2022, but he informed Collins that he had testified "hundreds of times over the last 40 years in Congress."
Fauci spent 38 years at NIAID, serving under administrations from both parties. He played a significant role in the US response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, West Nile virus, the anthrax attacks, pandemic influenza, various bird flu threats, Ebola, Zika, and became a leading face of the federal response to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Fauci lamented the current level of anger and hostility in the country, stating, "There's always been disagreements, different opinions, criticisms, and so forth. But the level of vitriol we see now - not just in this hearing, but in the country in general - is quite unfortunate. The purpose of hearings is to try and figure out how we can do better so the next time we face a pandemic, we're better prepared."
CNN staff members Betsy Klein, Jen Christensen, Elise Hammond, Antoinette Radford, and Maureen Chowdhury contributed to this report.
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Fauci highlighted that public accusations against him, such as those made by Marjorie Taylor Greene, often lead to an increase in death threats due to the belief in false conspiracy theories. Despite facing these threats, Fauci continued to testify in Congress about the US' response to Covid-19, having done so hundreds of times over the past 40 years.
