Dr Anthony Fauci says Covid rules are ‘not a civil liberties issue’ after Jim Jordan congressional shouting match
DR ANTHONY Fauci said Covid-19 rules “have nothing to do” with the issue of civil liberties after a heated congressional hearing earlier this week.
Speaking to CNN, Dr Anthony Fauci said that Covid-19 is a “public health issue” rather than a civil rights issue, following a spat with Republican Jim Jordan on Capitol Hill, over American’s rights.
“The way you get rid of those restrictions is to get as many people vaccinated as quickly and as expeditiously as possible because when that happens, for absolutely certain you are going to see the level of virus in the community go down and down and down to the point where you would not have to have those public health restrictions.
“I don’t enjoy those kinds of confrontations but I mean, it was very, very clear that he was talking about liberties that were being restricted,” Fauci told CNN.
“This has nothing to do with liberty… We’re talking about the fact that 560,000 people in our country have died.
“We’re talking about [60,000] to 70,000 new infections per day.
“That’s the issue. This is a public health issue. It’s not a civil liberties issue.”
During a heated hearing on Thursday, Jordan berated Dr Anthony Fauci over American liberties he claims were “assaulted” this year during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Are we going to continue this forever?” Jordan said. “What outcome do we have to reach before Americans get their liberty and freedom back?”
Rep Jordan was slammed by Morning Joe’s host for “peddling lies to morons” on Friday.
Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough said Jordan’s remarks were just “more lies being spewed to morons.”
“No personal liberties were taken away,” Scarborough said. “It’s sheer idiocy playing for the lowest common denominator.”
“You have to be a moron to believe it but I guess there’s a lot of morons out there.”
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“They have lied about Dr Fauci and spread conspiracy theories. It’s personal, they’re trying to attack the messenger as they’ve been lying to the American people” he said.
“They make things up, saying Fauci killed people during the aids pandemic, and Jim Jordan peddles those lies.”
The hearing on Thursday ended with Representative Maxine Waters, a Democrat, telling Jordan to “respect the chair and shut your mouth” after he went over his time.