Attorneys weigh in on 7-hour Fauci deposition in Biden-Big Tech lawsuit

Dr. Anthony Fauci was subjected to a seven-hour-long deposition Wednesday when he was grilled about his knowledge and/or involvement in the Biden administration’s collusion with tech oligarchies to censor speech regarding COVID-19. 

The lawsuit, filed in May by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, alleges a “collusion enterprise” based on previously revealed internal emails between the federal government and social media companies. Judge Terry Doughty ruled in favor of deposing top Biden officials, including former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, current White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and Anthony Fauci. 

While the deposition will be sealed under court order, some of the attorneys have already dropped teasers on social media about their deposition with the 81-year-old public health chief. 

“One thing is clear from the 7 hour deposition of Dr. Fauci today: When Fauci speaks — social media censors,” wrote Attorney General Eric Schmitt on Twitter Wednesday. 

“Some takeaways from the deposition of Fauci: 

• Fauci knew the Lab Leak theory had merit but it’d come back to him & sought to immediately discredit it 
• He defended lockdowns 
• The rest of us ‘don’t have the ability’ to determine what’s best for ourselves 

“More to come—Stay tuned,” Schmitt added. 

“Wow! It was amazing to spend 7 hours with Dr. Fauci,” tweeted Louisiana AG Landry. “The man who single-handedly wrecked the U.S. economy based upon ‘the science.’ Only to discover that he can't recall practically anything dealing with his Covid response!”

“One of my favorite quotes from Fauci’s deposition today: ‘I have a very busy day job running a six billion dollar institute. I don’t have time to worry about things like the Great Barrington Declaration,’” wrote New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) Litigation Counsel Jenin Younes.  

The Great Barrington Declaration, which slammed lockdowns, mandates and the government’s COVID-19 response in general, was signed in 2020 by tens of thousands of the world's top-tier medical professionals and hundreds of thousands of supporters. Some of those doctors and scientists have since been censored. 

“Another gem from today’s deposition of Dr. Fauci,” wrote Younes in a separate tweet. “His friend Cliff Lane traveled to China at the beginning of 2020, and determined that we should emulate China— at least to a degree—bc they had done such a good job containing the virus.  

“Of course, human rights- not to mention China’s questionable credibility when it comes to reporting—didn’t factor into Fauci’s determination (not explicitly stated). Incidentally, Fauci found that evidence to support efficacy of hydroxychloroquine was lacking because the trials were not randomized and controlled, but was apparently willing to base his lockdown advocacy on the observations of a single guy relying on reports from a dictator.” 

Jen Psaki tried to avoid testifying in a deposition by telling the court it would be “extremely burdensome” for her. America’s Frontline News reported Wednesday that Judge Doughty disagreed and quashed Psaki’s motion. 

Previously subpoenaed internal communications between the Biden administration and tech companies formed the foundation for this lawsuit against top White House officials. 

For example, Facebook’s parent company, Meta, disclosed that at least 32 government officials – including senior officials at the FDA, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and the White House were in communication with the social media giant about “content moderation”. Google-owned YouTube made similar disclosures.    

In one email to U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy on July 16, 2022, Facebook officials refer to a meeting between the social media company and HHS officials.    

“I know our teams met today to better understand the scope of what the White House expects from us on misinformation going forward.”    

That day, Biden had accused Big Tech of “killing people” for not doing enough to censor “misinformation”.    

In another series of emails, Facebook executives share the steps they’ve taken to make unapproved speech about COVID-19 “harder to find on our platform.” They also note that any content about COVID-19 that fact-checkers declare is “partly false” and “missing context," Facebook treats as completely false. The company also divulged that any user or “entity” simply connected to an “entity” de-platformed for wrong speech is deemed “non-recommendable".    

The emails also make reference to hunting “the disinfo dozen”.

Another email shows an invitation to a Zoom meeting between Twitter executives and Rob Flaherty, Andrew Slavitt, and Kelsey Fitzpatrick, officials of the Executive Office of the President/White House Office (EOP/WHO). Flaherty states in the email that Twitter will brief the White House “on vaccine misinfo”.    

Other emails reveal that Twitter and Facebook executives asked CDC officials for help in debunking claims including criticism of injecting infants with the COVID-19 injections. The CDC was happy to oblige, deeming nearly every single claim false, often without explanation except “it is reasonable to assume these statements may lead to vaccine refusal.”    

“Thank you so much again, I can’t reiterate enough how helpful this is for us to remove these misinfo claims ASAP!” a Facebook executive gushed obsequiously.    

In other emails, the CDC and Facebook officials agree to have monthly meetings in addition to their weekly meetings to further help them debunk “misinformation”.    

Another email shows White House COVID-19 Response Team Digital Director Clarke Humphrey asking Facebook to remove a Fauci parody account.    

“Yep, on it!” the Facebook employee replied within minutes.