Dr. Anthony Fauci responded Friday to Elon Musk’s calls for the former White House chief medical adviser to be prosecuted and his commitment to release the so-called “Fauci files.”
On New Year’s Day, Twitter’s new CEO teased the release of the so-called “Fauci files” in his latest attack on the former NIAID director, who has come under scrutiny for his restrictive policies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Musk promised at the time that the files would be released “later this week,” but nearly two weeks later he has yet to release any revealing documents to Fauci.
Last month Musk he tweeted, “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci” — in a shot at both Fauci and transgender people and their use of preferred pronouns. He did not elaborate on why he believes the doctor should be prosecuted.
In an appearance on Fox News’ “Your World,” host Neil Cavuto asked Fauci what “made him the richest man in the world — or the second richest man now — to come after you.”
“I have no idea what he’s talking about, Neal. I wish I did. I mean, I just — I have no idea what he’s referring to,” Fauci replied.
“He’s talking about — the Fauci files were supposed to come out last week. Now we’re at the end of this week. I just don’t understand what he’s doing. And I don’t think I should mention it, because it’s a little confusing to me,” he said.
Since Musk’s $44 billion blockbuster in October, the billionaire has provided reporters with internal documents known as “the Twitter files” — a look at how the social media company’s previous management decided to censor content on the platform.
In December, Musk revealed that former Twitter employees maintained a Slack channel called the “Fauci Fan Club.”
“What it says is to fire Fauci,” Cavuto told the doctor, “that you’ve been a little too accommodating, you’ve been working with Twitter, the government, to give a blanket answer to all of this. but [Musk has] he never released details. I don’t know if it is available. But it’s very similar to the things that Rand Paul said about you in the United States Senate, some of these Republican members of the House said that you made a bad situation worse.”
Cavuto noted that any congressional hearings on the administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which may be possible given the new GOP control of the House, “could take a long time.”
Fauci previously said he would “absolutely” cooperate with a House Republican investigation into the pandemic, which he reiterated to Cavuto.
“And what will be will be. As I said, Neil, and I’ll say it again, I have great respect for the oversight process. I have absolutely nothing to hide. I’ll be able to defend — defend everything I’ve done.
“So a lot of people are talking a lot about me and Twitter. I don’t have a Twitter account. I’ve never had a Twitter account. I don’t plan to have a Twitter account. And I had nothing to do with Twitter. So I don’t know what they’re talking about when they say that, Neil. I just don’t. I am confused”.
