The MeidasTouch Podcast - GOP Gets RUDE AWAKENING at their BIGGEST HEARING Today

Episode Date: June 3, 2024

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on the disastrous hearing by the Republicans today where they called Dr. Anthony Fauci to try and spread lies but Fauci and the Dems went on the offense. Visit https://meidastouch.com for more! Join us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/meidastouch Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown Lights On with Jessica Denson: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/lights-on-with-jessica-denson On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Yes or no? I was not here, but I saw a member of this committee questioned whether or not you represent science and tried to make that in some offensive way. I just want you to know most Americans don't think she represents Congress. So one of the things I've learned. So so I hear now you double double Fauci. So I don't want you to to to be offended, offended by that. Thank you, Congress member Moskowitz and Democrats for putting these MAGA Republicans in their place.

So the MAGA Republicans on Monday held a subcommittee hearing to spread lies about COVID because they think this will be helpful for them and Donald Trump and their extremist base. You had MAGA Republicans just saying the most offensive and unhinged things led by Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan. And fortunately, you had the pro-democracy Democrats pushing back, mocking them, calling them out, and coming with the facts. Let's just take a look at what went down here. Marjorie Taylor Greene says that what this subcommittee should be doing is arresting Dr. Fauci immediately.

That's what she says while Dr. Fauci's there playing the clip. You know what this committee should be doing? We should be recommending you to be prosecuted. We should be writing a criminal referral because you should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity. You belong in prison, Dr. Fauci. She then says to Dr. Fauci, you're not a doctor, you're no doctor. He's one of the most well-respected doctors on a bipartisan basis for nearly four decades before Donald Trump and the MAGA says everything's rigged and everything's fake. Here's what Marjorie Taylor Greene said. Play this clip. Do you think that's appropriate?

Do the American people deserve to be abused like that, Mr. Fauci? Because you're not doctor. You're Mr. Fauci in my few minutes. No, I don't need your answer. I want to talk about this right here. Mr. Fauci, I reclaim my time. I reclaim my time. I reclaim my time.

Mr. Raskin. Gentlelady will suspend. Mr. Chairman, just in terms of the rules of decorum, are we allowed to deny that a doctor is a doctor just because we don't want him to be a doctor? Yes, because in my time, that man does not deserve to have a license. As a matter of fact, it should be revoked, and he belongs in prison. Gentlelady will suspend. have a license as a matter of fact it should be revoked and he belongs in prison suspend the gentlelady should recognize the doctor as a doctor thank you mr chairman is this what we have

become is this what we have devolved into here's an exchange between democratic congress member robert garcia and marjorie Greene, where she interjects and says he's not respected. We're not calling him doctors. That's what she kept on doing throughout this hearing. Play this clip. I was going to say what Representative Raskin said. That's completely unacceptable to be able to deny Dr. Fauci, who's here a respected member of the medical community, his title. And that's actually a personal attack on on his character and i have instructed he's not respected and i've instructed her to address him as a doctor i'm not addressing him as a doctor let's talk about let's talk about this i i'm reclaiming my time i'm reclaiming my time words get taken down claiming my time second that order time. Second that. Point of order. Suspend. Then Marjorie

Taylor Greene randomly talks about how she doesn't worship Trump despite the fact that people say that the MAGA Republicans worship Trump. Play this clip. Her words be taken down, Mr. Chairman. Point of order, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a point of order. Mr. Griffin is. They accused us of worshiping President Trump. We don't worship President Trump. General Lady will suspend. Mr. Griffin, you have a point of order. I don't know, Marjorie Taylor Greene. I don't know. Maybe showing up to his criminal trial, a convicted, now convicted felon, then someone on trial for falsifying business records in connection with hush money payments, and the fact that he dressed

all of the MAGA Republicans up in the same long red ties to look like him, where he all went and attacked the judge's daughter. I don't know. It seems a little culty to me. Here's another MAGA Republican, Malia Takis, and here she just doesn't have the facts. If you elect clowns like this, this is what's going to happen. And she goes, so how much royalties were you making off of COVID? And Dr. Fauci's like, zero? I'm not making money off of this. What are you talking about? Here, play this clip. It's the conspiracy. Appreciate that. Dr. Fauci, how much have you earned from royalties from pharmaceutical companies since the pandemic began in 2021? Zero.

It says NIH scientists made $710 million in royalties from drug makers. You're saying that you did not receive any of the $710 million? On COVID, I received, I think, $ for any for a monoclonal antibody that i made 27 years ago okay so just in general though how much have you received not not related to covid just in general how much have you received in royalties between 2021 and 2023 i think none okay so somebody received the 710 somebody million. Somebody did, but not me. You didn't receive any royalties. Okay.

I see no royalties associated with COVID. I mentioned. I said. I'm on the record, and I want to make sure that this is clear, that I've developed a monoclonal antibody about 25 years ago that's used as a diagnostic that has nothing to do with COVID, and I receive an average of about $120 a year from that. Okay, but the bottom line. By the way, that's why I think it's important that we all watch these hearings. And yes, they're on C-SPAN, but it's important that you share these

videos and just let people know what's up. Because in these hearings, the MAGA Republicans, when you have the truth and the facts on the side of the Democrats, they just get exposed so easily when the MAGA Republicans don't have their right-wing propaganda networks to amplify it and when these pro-democracy Democrats go on the offense. Here is Democratic Congress member Jamie Raskin saying, look, they're treating you like a convicted felon, but actually, if you were a convicted felon, maybe they'd treat you with respect because apparently all the Republicans care about now are convicted felons. Play the clip.

I want to join my colleague from Florida in apologizing to you that some of our colleagues in the United States House of Representatives seem to want to drag your name through the mud. They're treating you, Dr. Fauci, like a convicted felon. Actually, you probably wish they were treating you like a convicted felon. They treat convicted felons with love and admiration. Some of them blindly worship convicted felons. This was an important moment of the hearing, though, where Congress member Jamie Raskin says, in your entire career, nearly 40 40 years have you ever been accused until

Trump was in office had he ever been accused of starting diseases here play this clip you've been a scientist and a scientific administrator for 54 years is that right more than a half century and you were director of the National Institute of allergies and infectious diseases for more than three decades. Is that right? 38 plus years. 38 years. Okay.

And I assume that you've never been accused of trying to start a disease before. Is that right? That is correct. You have devoted your life to fighting infectious diseases for the American people. Is that right? That is correct. You have devoted your life to fighting infectious diseases for the American people. Is that right? That is correct. And in fact, Dr. Fauci is someone who had been well-respected on a bipartisan basis. Democrats, Republicans, because science never used to be politicized and weaponized by right-wing extremists in the MAGA Republican base

to further the cult of Donald Trump. So here at a 1998 debate, this is George H.W. Bush talking about how when it comes to heroes in the United States of America and who are the true heroes here, Dr. Fauci would be the top on his list. This is what the Republican Party used to be like. Here, play this clip. People that are clean and honorable and out there setting a pace. I think a Dr. Fauci, probably never heard of him. You did, and heard him. He's a very fine research top doctor at National Institute of Health, working hard doing something about research on this disease of AIDS. But look, I also think we are. And by the way, then you had

George W. Bush in 2008 gave Dr. Fauci the highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Again, Republican George W. Bush, previously showed you Republican George H. W. Bush, 1988, 2008. Dr. Fauci was always viewed as one of the most respected doctors in America and in American history. Here's just a brief clip when George W. Bush gave him the honorific. Play this clip. Mr. Bush also honored Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The president says Fauci has advanced the understanding and treatment of AIDS. Three decades ago, a mysterious and terrifying plague began to take the lives of people across the world. Before this malady even had a name, it had a fierce opponent in Dr. Anthony Fauci.

And by the way, just so you can see, as I'm showing you these clips, these unhinged clips of these Republicans or these clips of unhinged Republicans and their behavior, look, when there are pandemics, when there are diseases, when there are serious catastrophic events and unpredictable events. That's why you need leadership to step in. People, I understand why people fear. I understand why people don't always have all of the information, but that's where leadership matters. And I'll take a look like George H.W. Bush, disagree with a lot of what his policies are, but listen to what he said when the AIDS pandemic was spreading and when AIDS was spreading and people had all of this false information that they were putting out there and they were saying all of these lies. Rather than fuel the lies, George H.W. Bush stepped in

though and said, look, that's incorrect data. Let me give you the truth here play this clip by that i mean the compassion that moves us to care for all those infected with the hiv men and women adults and children and we must help them and you you above all are doing just exactly that. And I want you to know I'm with you and extraordinarily grateful for what you're doing. By understanding, I mean educating. Educating Americans who don't want to help, don't want to become involved because of a misplaced fear. They're afraid of holding an AIDS patient because they're frightened of getting AIDS. Barbara and I want to say, and we hope we can continue to demonstrate this, they are wrong.

They're simply uninformed. They are wrong about that. A few minutes ago we were in a room full of kids with AIDS, and you could just feel the courage and the character of the doctors and the nurses and the parents and the counselors. And being with them, I thought of how there is no reason to fear for your health, just their health. Right. That's leadership, though. That's leadership. And then you have to correct people and let people know what's up. On the other hand, now you've got MAGA Republicans being led by people like Jim Jordan. Play this clip. Do you do you agree that there was a push to downplay the lab leak theory? Not on my part.

Really? Really? Wow. Wow. I think I think most of the country find that find that amazing. I said 11 seconds. But look at the facts. I've kept an open mind throughout the entire process. All right. You're back. Here's another clip of Democratic Congress member Jared Moskowitz play this clip. If you talked about how, you know, we live in partisan times, a lot of misinformation and, you know, colleagues on on this body said, you know, you should be, you know, charged and found guilty.

Of course, the only one that's happened to is your former boss. And take a look at this exchange here between Dr. Fauci and MAGA Republican Debbie Lesko, where she just lies and says, we've got these emails, we've got all of these things that show that you did this. And he's like, no, you don't. You're just quite literally making this stuff up. Here, play this clip. Three days later, on February 4th, 2020, four participants on the conference call authored a paper, Proximal Origin, which was sent to you for editing. Proximal Origin pushed the natural origin theory. On April 16th, 2020, the NIH director, Dr. Collins, emailed you expressing dismay that the Nature Medicine article, which was based on proximal origin,

didn't suppress the lab leak theory and asked you for more public pressure to suppress the lab leak theory. The very next day, in response to Dr. Collins' request to suppress the lab leak theory. The very next day, in response to Dr. Collins' request to suppress the lab leak theory, you cited the Nature Medicine article, which discounted the lab leak theory from the White House podium. My question to you, sir, did you cite this article at the White House

because the NIH director asked you to suppress the lab leak theory. I did not do that in response to anybody's suggestion to suppress anything. It was in response to a question that someone asked at the podium. And I did not edit any paper as shown in my official testimony. So you said about four or five things, Congressman, that were just not true. Well, we have emails to prove it. Well, you don't. Thank you. And I yield back. I now recognize Mr. Mfume from Maryland for five minutes of questions.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And by the way, no, we don't have it. So I get tired of hearing we've got it. And then when we ask for it, it's not there. We do not have it, Dr. Fauci, and for everyone watching this, that's just incorrect. Here, Democratic Congress member Jared Moskowitz talks about what it was like when all these people were spreading these lies and watch Dr. Fauci's response play. But, you know, the question I have is when you saw a lot of that disinformation, whether it was, you know, we can use a disinfectant to do like a cleaning or do light in the body or that, you know, China is working super hard, President Xi's got it contained, all of this stuff that was being put out, were you concerned? What was your feeling at that time working in the administration, seeing that come from the podium?

Well, I was very frustrated by that. It was very clear. I was put in a very difficult position that I didn't like, of having to contradict publicly the president of the United States. I took no great pleasure in that, but I felt it was my responsibility to preserve. He must have thought you did a great job. He gave you a commendation right before he left. Well, I felt it was my responsibility, you know, as to preserve my own personal integrity and my major responsibility to the American public to tell them the truth. And if I could just take this opportunity, when I was saying that if you attack me, you attack science,

I didn't mean that I am science. What I meant was that when the data show that hydroxychloroquine does not work and there are people saying, oh, it does, I'll give it to people, and we know it can be hurtful to them, then when you're attacking what I'm saying, that the science shows it doesn't work, and the science shows that bleach doesn't work, that when you attack that, you really are attacking science, because science has shown that it doesn't work. That's what I meant when you're attacking me, you're attacking science. Thank you, doctor. And finally, you have Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell ask Congress member Moskowitz about the threats that he gets on a daily basis. And what's that what that's like here? Play this clip. But I want to be perfectly clear, though, that the Select Subcommittee has seen no evidence of this. However, allegations

by my Republican colleagues amplified in the media have led to real tangible consequences for Dr. Fauci in his personal life in a way that should be unacceptable to all Americans. Dr. Fauci, you and I have known each other for a long time, and I'm not even going to admit how long. But during that time, I've seen your commitment, not just to science, but to advancing the greater good. And I know that this isn't a topic you enjoy discussing, and I'm sorry I'm going to have to ask you about it but I think the American people need to know what we are doing to those who are serving the common good and public health. I think it's important to make clear the harms that you and your loved ones have suffered because of these deeply

irresponsible accusations because you know what you You're human, just like the rest of us. So, Dr. Fauci, can you please share with us the nature of the threats you have received since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic? Yes, there have been everything from harassments by emails, texts, letters of myself, my wife, my three daughters. There have been credible death threats leading to the arrests of two individuals. And credible death threats mean someone who clearly was on their way to kill me. And it's required my having protective services essentially all the

time. It is very troublesome to me. It is much more troublesome because they've involved my wife and my three daughters. At these moments, how do you feel? Keep your mic on. Terrible. Do you continue to receive threats today? Yes, I do. Every time someone gets up and says I'm responsible for the death of people throughout the world, the death threats go up.

Well, there you have it, folks. I just wanted to share with you just some of what was going on today. Judge for yourself, but that's some of the highlights of today's hearing. Hit subscribe. We're on our way to 3 million subscribers thanks to your support. Thanks for watching and have a good one. Love this video? Make sure you stay up to date on the latest breaking news and all things Midas by signing up to the Midas Touch newsletter at MidasTouch.com slash newsletter.