National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci revealed in a deposition last month he is “bothered” by civil rights group America’s Frontline Doctors (AFLDS) and finds statements made by the medical rights organization on early COVID treatments to be “troublesome”.
The deposition, which lasted seven hours, is part of a lawsuit filed in May by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry. The complaint alleges a “collusion enterprise” between the federal government and social media companies based on previously revealed internal emails. Judge Terry Doughty ruled in favor of deposing top Biden officials, including former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, current White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and Anthony Fauci.
Attorney General Schmitt released a transcript Tuesday of Fauci’s deposition, which revealed that the public health chief has little recollection or awareness of much of the pandemic. Fauci used the term “I don’t recall” 174 times, according to Schmitt, and said he is “not aware of suppression of speech on social media.”
The 81-year-old was grilled about several issues during the pandemic, one of them being his opposition to effective early COVID treatments such as hydroxychloroquine (HCQ).
When questioned about his opinion on HCQ, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) official falsely claimed—as he has famously in the past—that HCQ’s effectiveness against the coronavirus is “based on no data” and is “misinformation”.
“If one propagates this concept that hydroxychloroquine is highly effective and people take it based on that information, which is incorrect, yes, that would be misinformation or even disinformation that could lead people to take a drug that would not help them, that could possibly hurt them,” he told prosecuting attorney D. John Sauer.
Fauci also claimed that many studies have “proven” HCQ to be unsafe and ineffective, though none of those studies actually examine HCQ as an early treatment for COVID-19.
Then, after Fauci suggested the entire medical community was in agreement about HCQ, Sauer asked him about America’s Frontline Doctors.
“Were you aware . . . there were a group of doctors who had a -- posted a video in front of the Supreme Court touting the -- what they perceived as the benefits of hydroxychloroquine?” Sauer asked.
Fauci at first did not recall.
“I don't recall. I do vaguely recall a group of doctors -- I forgot who they called themselves -- got up and were talking about a bunch of things regarding COVID. I don't precisely recall what they were saying,” he said.
Sauer reminded Fauci of comments he made on Good Morning America in 2020 responding to America’s Frontline Doctors that HCQ is ineffective at treating COVID-19.
Then Fauci’s memory returned.
“I do recall a group of doctors that were in front of the Supreme Court. I guess there were six or seven of them. One, I believe, was an African-American woman, female physician, if I'm not mistaken," Fauci said, referring to Dr. Stella Immanuel.
“Could be,” he continued. "I think that -- I think that's the group that we were referring to who were in front of the Supreme Court making a bit of statements. I don't precisely recall what they were talking about, but I know that in general the people who were watching that were concerned about the -- the truth of what they were saying. They were making -- I don't recall specifically what they were saying, but there was some concern about the accuracy of what they were saying.”
Sauer then cited similar comments by Fauci on Fox News and MSNBC that AFLDS was "people spouting something that isn't true.”
Fauci told Sauer that “what was being said on the steps in many respects didn't make much medical sense” and “was really quite unorthodox.”
Fauci also claimed that there was “a lot of negative response on the overwhelming representation of the medical community” to AFLDS. When Sauer asked how he knew that, Fauci said “a poll of physicians in established medical centers throughout the country” would show that.
When pressed further by Sauer, Fauci admitted that not only was there no such poll, but he was only able to name one group: the National Institutes of Health COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel.
Sauer showed Fauci a Breitbart article from June 2020 reporting that the video of AFLDS was banned by Twitter, YouTube and Facebook – but by the time Facebook removed it, it had garnered 17 million views within eight hours.
"[T]hose 17 million people watching that video, were [sic] those doctors standing on the steps of the Supreme Court and touted the benefits of hydroxychloroquine, would that bother you?” Sauer asked.
“It would likely bother me if a very large number of people were given information that was not only based on no data, but in which data actually showed that those statements were untrue,” answered Fauci.
“As a physician who takes care of patients and cares about the health of patients, I think that information that spreads falseness not based on data, as [a] physician would be troublesome to me,” he continued. “What does troublesome mean? Would I do anything about it? Not necessarily at all. But it's just I don't like false information that hurts patients.”
Sauer also produced a copy of a Washington Standard article titled, "America's Frontline Doctors website shut down,” regarding AFLDS’ hosting server Squarespace de-platforming the group for challenging the government’s science.
Fauci previously announced he will vacate his government posts by the end of the year.
