‘Cesspool of misinformation’: Fauci snaps back at Elon Musk call for prosecution
Ryan King
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Dr. Anthony Fauci shrugged off Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s call for his prosecution as a “cesspool of misinformation.”
While insisting he did not want to waste his time fretting over such skirmishes, Fauci highlighted some of the personal safety concerns he has been forced to grapple with since being catapulted into the political limelight.
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“I don’t pay attention to that, Max, and I don’t even feel I need to respond,” Fauci told Nature reporter Max Kozlov about Musk’s call for his prosecution. “A lot of that stuff is just a cesspool of misinformation, and I don’t waste a minute worrying about it.”
Fauci, who is set to retire at the end of the month, also lamented how he feels his safety is at risk and pointed the finger at Musk and others for amplifying those dangers.
“Of course, it’s at risk, that’s why I have armed federal agents with me all the time. [Musk’s tweet] stirs a lot of hate in people who have no idea why they’re hating, they’re hating because somebody [famous] is tweeting about it,” Fauci added to Kozlov.
Musk ignited his social media platform over the weekend, tweeting, “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci,” jabbing at Fauci’s public advice on the pandemic and the Left’s embrace of touting pronouns. The SpaceX and Tesla billionaire tycoon later elaborated he was sniping at how Fauci lied to Congress without divulging specifics on how Fauci lied.
“Forcing your pronouns upon others when they didn’t ask, and implicitly ostracizing those who don’t, is neither good nor kind to anyone. As for Fauci, he lied to Congress and funded gain-of-function research that killed millions of people. Not awesome imo,” Musk explained.
Some conservatives, such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), have accused Fauci of not being truthful before Congress when discussing government funding of gain-of-function research — a technique in which scientists enhance viruses for experimental purposes. Politicians such as Paul have raised concerns that COVID-19 could have originated from that type of research in a Wuhan, China, lab.
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Fauci has been on a media tour as he wraps up the waning days as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden. Having long been revered by both sides of the aisle for being a bipartisan health expert, Fauci became a polarizing figure during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Conservatives raged against him, blaming him for lockdowns, mask mandates, vaccine requirements, and other pandemic suppression measures. He also served over 50 years in government.