A 446-page deposition of President Biden’s chief medical advisor, Anthony Fauci, was released this month as a result of a lawsuit filed by Louisiana and Missouri that could force federal officials to face civil sanctions for infringing on civil rights.
The lawsuit, which was filed in the Western District of Louisiana, alleges scores of top federal officials conspired with social media companies to stamp out certain undesirable viewpoints, especially those dealing with COVID-19 research.
“If we prevail in our lawsuit and get a finding of collusion, Dr. Fauci and others could potentially face civil liability for deprivation of constitutional rights,” Cory Dennis, press secretary to Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, told the Louisiana Record in an email.
The Fauci deposition, which was conducted by John Sauer of the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, confirmed what investigators already knew, according to Landry.
“Federal bureaucrats in collusion with social media companies want to control not only what you think, but especially what you say,” Landry said in a prepared statement. “During no time in human history was this more obvious than during the COVID-19 crisis where social engineering tactics were used against the American public, not to limit your exposure to a virus, but to limit your exposure to information that did not fit within a government-sanctioned narrative.”
Fauci acknowledged in the deposition that “egregious misinformation” about the coronavirus pandemic that would discourage people from getting vaccinated could lead to an unnecessary loss of life. But he also distanced himself from the position that steps should be taken to curb the spread of such misinformation.
“You know, that’s not my area,” Fauci said. “I’m very well aware of the concept of free speech. The area of the curtailment of that is something that is not in my area of expertise. Those are legal and other things. And I really don’t have any opinion on that.”
He said he has never contacted a social media company to have inaccurate information removed from their platforms. And no one on Fauci’s staff has done so either, he testified.
Those advancing the lawsuit, however, contend that “COVID tyranny” ruined people’s lives and harmed businesses. And Fauci said “I don’t recall” 174 times during the deposition, according to the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office.
In his defense, Fauci, who serves as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he receives thousands of emails a day, meets with scientists constantly and has written 1,300 articles over the past several years.