Sen. Tom Cotton blasted Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s lead immunologist and White House chief medical adviser, on Monday, characterizing him as a government functionary who believes “they are the science.”
Cotton went after Fauci during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” after the long-serving head of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases railed at Republican critics on Sunday.
In an interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan, Fauci claimed it was “dangerous” for GOP senators to be criticizing him, arguing that “they’re really criticizing science because I represent science.”
“To me, that’s more dangerous than the slings and the arrows that get thrown at me. I’m not going to be around here forever, but science is going to be here forever,” Fauci continued.
“And if you damage science, you are doing something very detrimental to society long after I leave. And that’s what I worry about,” he added.
But Cotton took umbrage with that comparison.
In addition to being critical of Fauci’s remarks, the Arkansas Republican and veteran U.S. Army officer repeated an earlier call for Fauci to be investigated after allegedly lying to Congress about funding “gain-of-function” research in China, which the chief immunologist has denied.
“His agency just admitted a few weeks ago that yes, they did in fact, fund gain-of-function research. So there’s a lie there. It’s either Tony Fauci lying to Congress or his agency after months of stonewalling writing a letter to Congress and admitting it. I suspect it’s Tony Fauci lying on the spot in his testimony to Congress,” Cotton said.
“It’s just another example of how these bureaucrats think that they are the science, that they represent the epitome of knowledge,” Cotton noted further, going on to refer to President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats as “grubby politicians” who “have no business telling [Americans] what to do.”
Cotton’s remarks follow along the lines of other comments from Senate colleagues Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), both of whom have also recently blasted Fauci after suggesting his attacks from GOP critics were an attempt to distract from the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 and other alleged scandals associated with former President Donald Trump.
“The absolute hubris of someone claiming THEY represent science. It’s astounding and alarming that a public health bureaucrat would even think to claim such a thing, especially one who has worked so hard to ignore the science of natural immunity,” Paul tweeted Sunday.
“Fauci is an unelected technocrat who has distorted science and facts in order to exercise authoritarian control over millions of Americans. He lives in a liberal world where his smug ‘I REPRESENT science’ attitude is praised,” noted Cruz.
Paul also lashed out at Fauci during a “Fox News Primetime” appearance Monday evening.
“When a government bureaucrat has the audacity and the arrogance to say they represent all of science, we should be running the other way,” he said. “It conjures up images of the Medieval Church and their repression of science. Science has nothing to do with having obedience to any kind of government dogma.”
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Originally from Indiana, she now calls sunny Florida her home.
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