Ashley Moody, Rick Scott question silent Anthony Fauci about COVID direction

Florida’s Senators took turns attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci about his handling of the COVID pandemic, questioning if he chased celebrity over science.

U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, speaking at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, repeatedly cited a Florida grand jury report that defended the state’s anti-lockdown positions on the virus. She also accused Fauci, a member of President Donald Trump’s administration at the time, of mocking Gov. Ron DeSantis and giving poor advice.

Moody quoted from journals just made public by the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

“You called our Governor, Gov. DeSantis, and I’m going to quote this so I get it right, right out of your journals, ‘a total jerk,’ that he is a ‘complete disgrace,’ that he is blocking local authorities from mandating masks in various locations,” Moody recounted.

“And you were very concerned and upset that we were actively, and I’m going to quote, ‘criticizing you,’ and we talk virtually every day about being wrong on everything. Yeah, I love it. And what is astounding is that you wrote because of that, because we were questioning our government, because we were fighting back for the truth from our government, from scientifically based recommendations, because we were pushing for that, you said you feared that our democracy is in dire danger.”

The Plant City Republican served as Florida Attorney General at that time and was a close ally of DeSantis, who later appointed her to her current seat in the Senate.

“Thank goodness we have people up here that I work with who understand our role, which is to report to our bosses the people because they are in charge,” Moody said at the hearing.

Fauci throughout the hearing declined to answer any questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights. The hearing stretched over more than three hours.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, a healthcare executive before his time in public office, also questioned Fauci at the hearing on conversations recounted in his journals. Scott, a Naples Republican, suggested Fauci was having communications with allies in the scientific community that he intentionally kept on private email to shield them from Freedom of Information Act requests.

He also repeatedly asked Fauci if he conducted conversations about his work with former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director David Morens, whom the Justice Department charged in April with conspiracy to conceal documents.

“He was your friend. He was a frequent guest at your house. You reportedly co-authored over 50 scientific articles with him. You turned to him first right after COVID-19 first occurred,” Scott said.

“Earlier this year, the Department of Justice charged him with conspiracy against the United States. In addition to other charges, as part of conspiracy to conceal information and falsify records to suppress alternative theories about the origins of COVID-19. Now, you’ve publicly kicked this man to the curb, saying Dr. Morens was not an adviser to me on institute policy or other substantive issues.”

Scott asked if any communications had been destroyed between Morens and Fauci, but Fauci declined to answer, invoking the same right to remain silent he used throughout the hearing.

Much of the hearing also centered on Fauci’s public dismissal of the possibility the COVID virus was created through gain-of-function research partially funded by U.S. research grants.

Moody asked if a pardon received by Fauci from former President Joe Biden dated back to 2014 because that was when grants were first issued to the EcoHealth Alliance related to that research. The Health and Human Services Department suspended funding for that group in 2021 amid heightened questions about the origins of the virus, as reported by Science magazine at the time.

The questioning of Fauci came years after the pandemic caused lockdowns. But Moody told Florida Politics it remains vitally important to understand what led to the handling of the pandemic, including why states like Florida were mocked by the federal government for taking alternative approaches.

“I think the American people understand that there were representations that were made that didn’t exactly come from science, and they’re due answers,” Moody said. “And I think this hearing was important for them.”

She also said the lack of candor by health officials in the federal government could hinder public response to the next crisis.

“The trust is lost, and the consequences extend far beyond any single pandemic,” she said. “The next time public health officials genuinely need Americans to listen, millions of people may simply ignore them or not believe them.”