Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) wants a special prosecutor to pursue criminal charges against Dr. Anthony Fauci for “lying to Congress.”
To explain this, ABC News says, “Some Republicans, including Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul … have accused Fauci of lying to Congress when he denied in May that the National Institutes of Health funded ‘gain of function’ research — the practice of enhancing a virus in a lab to study its potential impact in the real world — at a virology lab in Wuhan, China.”
But even if a prosecutor pursued such charges, they wouldn’t stick, because “no clear evidence … exists that ‘gain of function’ research was funded by NIH, and there is no link of U.S.-funded research to the emergence of COVID-19. NIH has repeatedly maintained that its funding did not go to such research involving boosting the infectivity and lethality of a pathogen.”
So it looks mostly like political posturing, but I’m inclined to think these guys (Cruz and Paul) are serious. It also seems like they’re using Dr. Fauci to fulfill the GOP’s need of a scapegoat to fuel their politics of grievance, which I wrote about here.
ABC News notes, “Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, called the GOP criticism nonsense.” But he did more than that; he told Cruz, in so many words, to suck eggs or go to hell. His explicit words were, ““I should be prosecuted? What happened on Jan. 6, senator?” and added, “I’m just going to do my job and I’m going to be saving lives, and they’re going to be lying.”
Let’s be clear: Fauci is throwing down the gauntlet here. They accused him of lying, and he fired back that they’re the ones who are lying. A doctor serving the public interest versus GOP politicians serving their political self-interest, take your pick. Until they come up with objective evidence, and they never will, I’ll believe him over them every time.
Especially given the character of these two senatorial gentlemen. Paul, an eye doctor, has backed Covid-19 conspiracy theories and quack treatments. Even given his lack of expertise on infectious diseases — Fauci’s specialty — there’s no excuse for any doctor saying the things he does.
Cruz is the jellyfish who stood on a debate stage and listened to Trump call his father a terrorist, then embraced Trump all-in when Trump’s appeal to the ignorant Republican masses proved more greater than his own, and now tries to ride Trump’s coattails. Anybody with a spin would have spit in Trump’s face for that remark.
Cruz also fled to Mexico and basked in the relative warmth and comfort of a Mexican resort when his constituents’ lights went out in last winter’s Big Freeze because Texas insisted on having its own power grid instead of tying into a regional or national grid like everybody else does.
In Democratic circles, Cruz is known as “Ted Crud” for this and other similar reasons. He couldn’t be elected in a better state than Texas.
Fauci’s “Jan. 6” remark “was a reference to the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump that was stoked as Cruz helped lead GOP objections to Congress’ certifying the 2020 election results,” ABC News said (read their story here). Ted Crud was one of the GOP senators who voted against certifying baselessly disputed electoral votes. Even Rand Paul didn’t stoop that low.
The National Institutes of Health has been a GOP target, and the claim that NIH knowingly funded Chinese bioweapons research that escaped from the lab and caused a global pandemic is a favorite rightwing talking point that has zero evidentiary support to back it, a detail that never deters slimy partisan hacks like Paul and Cruz from poisoning the public discourse in this country.
It’s nice to see a reputable doctor tell Ted Crud, in so many direct words, to go to hell.