Anthony Fauci appearing before Senate committee on Homeland Security this morning

>> Ed Vitagliano: Every day, AFA offers biblical insight on issues that others aren't willing to touch in the hopes that you'll become a world changer. That's why we're offering an in depth worldview training course called Activate. Thirteen different professors teaching 18 sessions, all available online, including a printed workbook to help you apply what you've learned and one year access to AFA streaming content to give you even more resources. Find out more about Acctivate and sign up today at Acctivate.AFA.net welcome to today's Issues. Join us for the next hour as we offer a Christian response to the

>> Chris Woodward: issues of the day.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Here's your host, Ed Metagliano.

>> Ed Vitagliano: and welcome to the Fauci Circus. We are gonna, we are gonna cover the little, bit the demise of St. Anthony Fauci.

>> Tony Vitagliano: 2020 again folks.

>> Ed Vitagliano: 2020, as the, as the person said. Ed Vitagliano sitting in for Tim Wildmon this week. I'm joined in studio by Fred Jackson. Good morning, Fred.

>> Fred Jackson: Good morning. Good morning.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Tony Vitagliano, good morning to you.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Good morning.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And Krish Woodward, who is our news guy today.

>> Chris Woodward: Yes, on the advice of counsel, I am not going to give my true feelings of he who shall not be named.

>> Tony Vitagliano: I'm not sure if I'm Krish or not. I'll have to plead the fifth on that.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, that, that is all because we are going to talk about Anthony Fauci who's appearing before Senate committee this morning. And we were just kind of reminiscing about the good old days of the COVID lockdown. And I did not know this. Tony said that there were Fauci candles and kind of St. Anthony Fauci is what he was being touted as early on. And a little Fred, a little bit of the shine of of that halo has come off Anthony Fauci in the intervening years between the COVID lockdowns.

>> Fred Jackson: And today I think the candles would be in the shape of somebody with a pitchfork and a tail. That's about where we are, today. It has been, and I guess we should not be surprised at what we have seen, so far. This started about 7:30 central time. M. This morning, this hearing. Rand Paul is the chairman, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Big fan, big fan of Anthony Fauci.

>> Fred Jackson: Hey, listen, and he basically rehearsed years of what Fauci had done, said contradictions. And of course a lot of it now is based on the diary excerpts from the Fauci's own diary of the time, which he basically admits certain things. Foushee in his opening statement, just spit it back at Rand Paul. And from then on it has been for every question asked of Fauci. It has been pleading the fifth.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, let's, let's, Krish, get into some of that. because this is, this is, this is war between Rand Paul and Fauci. They have gone at each other every. At over every opportunity that Rand Paul has had to to drag Anthony Fauci before a senate committee. which, which committee is this, by the way, that he's.

>> Fred Jackson: Homeland Security.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Homeland Security. Okay.

>> Chris Woodward: Yes.

>> Ed Vitagliano: by the way, Anthony Fauci, for, for those of you, who either have just been born or were not paying attention, maybe you are stranded on a desert island. Anthony Fauci was the director of the National Institute of allergy and infectious diseases from 1984 to 2022. So right in the m. Mid, right at the end there, when Covid hit, he was chief medical advisor to the president from 21 to 2022. and so he was the point person on COVID policy in this country. And probably that spilled over to much of the world. So yes, Krish set up this, this Homeland Security, committee hearing and why he's there. And and so what's happened so far this morning? Because that started this morning.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Yeah.

Anthony Fauci refuses to answer questions under Fifth Amendment

>> Chris Woodward: So let's just begin with the, the top of the sheet here, Brent. it's. It's no secret that Dr. Rand Paul, does not like Dr. Anthony Fauci. They have been at odds for years. and that's being kind. and so let's just begin. For anybody that didn't see the beginning of the hearing, this is from very early on in Today's proceedings where Dr. Paul, demanded or said he wanted an apology right off the bat. From, Dr. Fauci. Clip one.

>> Rand Paul: The decision to fund dangerous gain of function research in Wuhan, China, will likely go down in history as perhaps one of the worst public health decisions. Frankly, the American people deserve an apology. I hope today Dr. Fauci will come clean, admit it was a mistake to fund dangerous research in China, admit that the risk of this dangerous research exceeded any possible benefits, ask forgiveness and pledge to help our government devise safeguards so a man made epidemic never happens again.

>> Chris Woodward: Now, none of those things that Dr. Paul, Senator Paul asked for there has happened, at least not yet. Because as we've already talked about, Dr. Fauci has pleaded the fifth countless times, which he is allowed to do. Let's be honest. That's a right. Constitutional protection. If we're hauled in front of people, we have that same right, thanks, to our constitution here. But where it really got silly is, Fauci pleaded the Fifth even over, like, insignificant things such as, and I'm not making this up. The acknowledgment of a folder on his desk.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Clip 2 in the red folder on

>> Rand Paul: your table is a copy of Section 192 of Title 2 of the U.S. code. Your counsel has been provided a copy as well. That section makes it a crime for a witness appearing under subpoena to refuse to answer any questions pertinent to the question under inquiry. Do you have that in front of you?

>> Chris Woodward: On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the fifth amendment by the Constitution.

>> Rand Paul: Let the record record that the witness has refused to answer whether there's a folder in front of him based on his fifth amendment right.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, look, let's just. Let's just stop there for just a second. Now it's always. I'm going to get to you here, Tony, just a second. But it's always amazing to me, you. You are allowed to plead the fifth on any issue which risks self incrimination.

>> Chris Woodward: Sure.

>> Ed Vitagliano: All right. So that's, as you said, Krish. that. That. That is a cherished American right that has frequently been shown on just about every episode of Law and Order and Blue Bloods in case Tim Wildmon's listening, his favorite show. but I'm not sure that you're supposed to use it to not answer any questions. I guess a lawyer who's advising Anthony Fauci is going to tell him, just don't answer anything, because then follow up questions can make you look guilty, et cetera. But that is kind of a little ridiculous. Now, Tony. first of all, ah, a lot of. I think, Krish, if I'm. If I'm right, this. This new hearing is because of the discovery of his diary.

>> Chris Woodward: Yes.

>> Ed Vitagliano: On his, government compute.

>> Chris Woodward: Yes. And they're. They're claiming that's new evidence because. And I failed to answer your question with them from the get go here, they want to talk about the diary, but they also want to use that diary to get into what he said in 2020 about the origins of COVID what he knew about it. And then they're pointing to the diary entries as proof that he contradicted himself or lied or misled people based on the fact that he Said this to Trump and Biden, and then he's writing about the complete opposite things at home in a. Zach.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay. All right, so first of all, I think it's just morally wrong for a grown man to have a diary.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Okay.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm just going to say, you want to call it a diary, you should call it a journal journal. I think we can all agree on that. Okay. So, Tony, the problem. The. The biggest problem I have with Anthony Fauci, I think this kind of drives Rand Paul's hostility to.

>> Fred Jackson: To.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Towards him, is that it has appeared to me, this is my opinion. I'm not charging Fauci with anything. it. It has appeared that he knew that federal monies were being, sent in again in. In again, either against policy or against the law to outside laboratories outside the United States to do gain of function research. which means gain of function research. M. Means, researching, either viruses or bacteria that could infect people, but also optimizing them. Optimizing them so that they can figure out a way to cure them if they have an outbreak. Right, right. So this. This is like something out of a, out of a Micah Crichton book, I think about the Andromeda strain, although that came supposedly from outer space. But this. Whatever you think about Anthony Fauci, okay. This is terrifying if this is going on, this gain of function research, because as was proven at the Wuhan lab, eventually these bugs find a way out.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Yeah. So, real quick, I'm glad that my kids don't know about the fifth, because they would also plead the Fifth for everything, all the time.

>> Chris Woodward: Did you.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Did you eat two cookies when I said to eat? I plead the fifth.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Tony Vitagliano: I plead the fifth. Yeah. anyways, aside from that, would you

>> Ed Vitagliano: like to acknowledge that there are crumbs on the table in front of me? I plead the fifth.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Yeah, exactly. he's.

Jon Ernst: Fauci's already been pardoned for this

By the way, when we came in here, the headline, one of the, on the Chiron for, Fox News. Well, it's on there now. It says he's pled the Fifth Amendment 70 plus times already. 70 plus times. And to me, what it looks like because, Fauci's already been pardoned. He was pardoned at the very end of Biden's presidency as Biden was walking out the door pardoning Fauci. And, or at least the auto pen was. Yeah, yeah, yes, somebody was pardoning. So he's already been pardoned for this. So to me, these hearings look like, I kind of Made this reference before. It looks like a mob boss who's just sitting before a, hearing and he's already been pardoned for everything he's done. So why. He's just. And he's not going to cooperate. Why in the world would he. He'd plead the fifth for everything. I don't know. You know, maybe I washed. Maybe I washed money, maybe I laundered money, maybe I didn't. I plead the Fifth.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Who.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Who cares? I'm pardoned for everything anyway. So my problem with Fauci, though, and I. I think this is what this hearing is about, is that there's just. There's been no accountability for himself or others holding him accountable, for his knowledge of. Of what? Of Covid's origins and where it came from and all the developments that would happen over the course of that entire, saga, so to speak. There was just never any accountability or backtracking from him on anything. I mean, it was always, no, this wasn't. This wasn't, you know, at the beginning, wasn't lab released. You know, it wasn't developed in a lab. and.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And he mocked that idea.

>> Tony Vitagliano: He mocked that idea. Yeah. And so there's just been zero accountability. and, honestly, you're probably not going to get any from him. It would require a tremendous amount of humility. And in his is, you know, one of his fears probably might open him up for, you know, legal. Put him. Get him in some legal trouble. But you're just not going to get any type of admission of, not guilt, but just even a. Yeah, we got some things wrong. I mean, to my knowledge, to this day, he's yet to kind of really backtrack on anything. And his diaries definitely don't. Didn't show any element of, Well, you know, wow, I really messed this up. It was more so. I mean, just. Well, we'll get to his diaries. Fred.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. And the other thing that has been stressed this morning by a number of Republican senators is the almost cavalier attitude m. That Fauci had towards the steps to stop.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Right.

>> Fred Jackson: The spread. for instance, he's been questioned.

>> Ed Vitagliano: The curve.

>> Fred Jackson: Flatten the curve. He's been questioned this morning about where did the six foot rule come from? You should stand six foot apart. And apparently he admits in that diary, I don't know, there is no scientific basis behind that. I just kind of brought up 6 foot there.

>> Chris Woodward: There were.

>> Ed Vitagliano: There were spots, in Walmart and grow and Kroger.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Remember where you stand here. And then there Were six foot later, there was another set of prints. You can't get any closer.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, the. The mask question. The mask went back and forth.

>> Rand Paul: Oh, yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: And that's what has frustrated so many people. And for a lot of folks, this cost them their jobs, their careers, what it did to kids as far as locking down schools, all of this sort of thing. So it is not only the gain of function and where did the virus come from, but also. I don't know. Krish, if you have the Joni Ernst. we don't have that.

>> Chris Woodward: We do not Joni Ernst.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Senator talked about the Iowa Senator Jones.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Chris Woodward: Yes.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay.

>> Fred Jackson: Anthony Fauci was in charge of handing out grants.

>> Fred Jackson: He handed out grants. To, you know, various universities who did research on aborted baby parts who were aborted. baby parts were put into mice to see if it could be used, for disease spread, et cetera, et cetera. now I've heard about this before, but she asked, and of course he pled the fifth on this this morning. So this. So it went beyond Covid. It went to other things that Fauci has done under his direction. Handing out grants, Signing off on grants for grotesque experiments like that.

>> Chris Woodward: Yes. Yeah.

Tony Robbins: Federal government has way too much power in experiments

>> Ed Vitagliano: I don't know. Listen, first of all, my major complaint is that the federal government has way too much power. Okay? That. That is the core issue here. The federal government can shut down an entire nation and force people to wear masks. And force people to get a shot. Yeah, and force people. All of this stuff. And has the money and the power to do whatever it wants in terms of experiments. You know, even. Even if it runs the risk of destroying civilization.

>> Fred Jackson: right.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I mean, what if this hadn't been Covid. What if this had been something far more devastating? This is what gives rise to conspiracy theories about the wealthy in Davos wanting to, prune the human, the tree of humanity to get it down to a more manageable figure. Because all this stuff happens. And to Tony, to your point, nobody. Nobody pays for.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Nobody pays for it.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Nobody gets in trouble. Why is Fauci being allowed right to plead the fifth on that question you just mentioned? That's just a simple question about the policy of the organization you were getting paid for. And by the way, didn't you say this morning the guy's worth $12 million now?

>> Fred Jackson: Yep.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, that's a great salary he gets paid.

>> Chris Woodward: One of the reasons why he and other people are not held accountable is because we have a media that just ignores these kinds of things and a

>> Ed Vitagliano: democratic party who's running for him.

>> Chris Woodward: I mean, Fred can tell you this because he was having to try to make sense out of an AP story that was basically running cover for Dr. Fauci. the Associated Press being oftentimes a left wing media, outlet, in defense of liberals here, but let's go back a little bit here and just remind people about how mainstream media outlets, were just fawning over Anthony, Fauci. Here's 40 seconds of some of the things that we talked about, and aired over the years. Clip 4.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Dr. Anthony Fauci, American hero and NewSong York Yankee fan.

Senator Peters speaks with Dr. Anthony Fauci ahead of today's hearing

With me now is Dr. Anthony Fauci, America's favorite doctor. The head and the heart that comes together, in your body is the real deal, Dr. Fauci. And that's why people believe in you.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Dr. Fauci, I know you are one

>> Chris Woodward: of the busiest scientists in the country right now. It is an honor to have some of your time.

>> Ed Vitagliano: We see you as well as a hero.

>> Chris Woodward: Dr. Fauci.

>> Fred Jackson: Thanks so much for your time.

>> Ed Vitagliano: How is it that it is your birthday tomorrow, but we here at CBSN got the gift. We got to talk to you. Saturday Night Live is back this weekend.

>> Fred Jackson: After a month of being off.

>> Ed Vitagliano: What do you think the chances are

>> Fred Jackson: that somebody will portray you?

>> Chris Woodward: That clip was sponsored by Pfizer. So.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, listen, that at least explains the fact that Fauci, apparently from his diaries, his diary got, Got. Got the big head. Oh, yeah, about. Listen, no, nobody's made to be fawned over like that. And you add that to the fact that Fauci apparently thought he was saving the world with what he was advising.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, 2020 was, So I've been in news now, for 25 years. somehow, some way, I've been here for 16 and 2020. I say this, and I'm half joking, but it's true. 2020 was the longest decade of my life, just because it was hard on everybody every day. The news was constantly, how many people are testing positive and all these kinds of terrible things. You saw people, I know people in my family that have businesses that were having to shut down and they were losing money. All of a sudden you can't pay bills, all kinds of things. And it was a nationwide situation, and it was very depressing. and a lot of that has to do with the decisions this man made, and the advice he was giving to people. The bad advice that he was never held accountable, for by these large news outlets. That have the time, the money and the resources to prove these things wrong and say this man should be held accountable, but they're not doing that. And to give just a little bit of another example of some of the fireworks, at today's hearing, we're going to have to bail out of this because it's a solid two minutes, piece of audio. But at one point, one of Fauci's attorneys was removed from this hearing. So there are some people holding folks accountable. Unfortunately, it's not news, outlets and government, law enforcement. But clip three here.

>> Rand Paul: The chairman has denied your assertion of privilege and directed you to answer. but you nonetheless refuse and stand on privilege despite the existence of the pardon. The committee will have to consider after this hearing what appropriate action should be taken against you for the failure to testify after being directed to do so. It's against the law to obstruct an investigation of Congress. There will be repercussions to your refusal to testify today. Senator Peters. You're not recognized. You're not recognized. If you are unruly, you will be removed from the proceeding. You are not. You are not recognized. And you. You are not recognized.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Sir.

>> Rand Paul: Sir. You are not recognized. You are not recognized. Security, We'll, we'll, we'll hold off, but you will respect these proceedings. You were told.

>> Chris Woodward: So he goes on to. After this guy gets forcibly removed. And it carried on.

>> Ed Vitagliano: By the way, was this an attorney, Fauci's attorney? Was he sitting next to him?

>> Chris Woodward: He was in the. He was in the vicinity.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay.

>> Chris Woodward: he was six feet behind Fauci. Just for safety purposes. Six feet, but two. Rand Paul finishes at the end of this very long sound bite we had to dump out of the Senator. Paul says it's okay. He still has half a dozen attorneys that he brought along today.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Yeah, yeah. It's. Let's not forget either that the. And this is revealed in his diaries. And I'm not going to give him the privilege of saying journals. I'm going to keep calling diaries. Just even further in his diaries, that he was talking about the friction that began to develop between he and the Trump administration and Trump himself as Trump started pushing for, hey, let's, let's. We got to start opening, like, let's start working towards how do we get things open. Fauci was resistant to that. Even with the failure of the flatten the curve. Remember, flatten the curve was supposed to flatten the curve, and it didn't.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Even with the failure of his own policies that he said would, would, would. You know, this will, this will help. This will help the vaccine, keep you

>> Ed Vitagliano: from, catching it and spreading and spreading it.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Right? So it, it reveals that friction that was there. And he still, There was still no backtracking on his part. He was resistant towards Trump. He didn't agree with it. So even as the proof was being made in, the pudding, so to speak, in places like Florida, where Desantis was like, forget it, we're opening up. Don't, don't worry about what the federal government says or what Foushee's policy is. Florida's going to open up. And Florida began to be proved, right, that their cases didn't surge anymore just because they began to open up their state and businesses in their state. And he still was. No backtracking.

Chris Bell: Fauci failed to acknowledge mistakes regarding vaccines

And that's what, that's, that's my biggest problem, and that is the biggest evidence to me as to why someone like Fauci should be held accountable is because you, you failed to say, to even, to even just acknowledge that, well, you know what, maybe we need to reassess. It was always, no, this is lockdowns and mask and vaccines, and we don't need to open up things yet because we don't know, blah, blah. It just. That's what gets me right up.

>> Ed Vitagliano: In fact, I think. And then, Krish, I don't know if you. Do you have any more sound from, this hearing?

>> Chris Woodward: those were. Well, we can come back.

>> Ed Vitagliano: We can come back.

>> Chris Woodward: Some of the stuff is a little redundant. I do, I do still have a few clips.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay, so, let me just say this before we, as we get ready to go to the break, we said many times during that 2020-2021 time, things would have gone a lot better for everyone if there had been a little more humility on the part of those making the decisions. If they had said, listen, this was a brand new thing to us, we weren't sure how to handle it. We did the best we could with the information we had. Next time we may consider X, Y or Z. I don't think Fauci would probably be in as much trouble.

>> Bernie Marino: No.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Because the fact that he is insistent, in all this time, in not ever admitting any mistakes makes people suspect something else is going on.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Right.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Was this guy getting money from Pfizer? You know, how did he make his $12 million, all that stuff. A little humility would have gone a long way. We'll be right back, folks.

Preborn Network helps mothers facing unexpected pregnancies discover hope through a free ultrasound

This year, America celebrates its 250th birthday. Two and a half centuries of courage, innovation, faith and freedom. But what will the next 250 years hold? The next generation could hold the next Billy Graham, the next Rosa Parks, the next Ronald Reagan. The next child whose life will impact generations. But first, they must be given the chance to live every day. PreBorn Network clinics help mothers facing unexpected pregnancies discover hope through a free ultrasound. When a mother sees her baby and hears that tiny heartbeat, her baby is twice as likely to be given the gift of life. What story will God write through America's Next Generation? In honor of America's 250th anniversary, we're asking friends to consider a special gift of of $250. Your gift can help provide nearly nine life saving ultrasounds. Dial 250 and say the keyword baby. That's 250 baby. Or donate securely at preborn.com afr that's preborn.com afr Every gift is tax deductible.

>> Tim Wildmon: Hello, Tim Wildmon here, president of American Family association and American Family Radio. Hey, maybe you've heard some of my other announcements about tours. In March 2027, we are going to Greece and we're going to Italy. Two separate tours, but you can do both if you want to. The first tour is called the Footsteps of Paul, which will be going to, many of the places covered in the book of acts that happened in Greece. The other tour is Italy and one of the places we're going to be going is Venice. And we're gonna ride the gondola or the gondola that Paul took on his trip to Venice. You can read about that in the Bible too. I'm just kidding. But you can call it a gondola or gondola, I don't care. But if you want to go on one of our tours in 2027, go to tours.afa.net that's tours.afa.net I have been

>> Chris Woodward: crucified with Christ and I no longer live. But Christ lives in me.

>> Tony Vitagliano: The life that now live in this body. I live by faith in the Son

>> Ed Vitagliano: of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20American Family Radio. this is Today's Issues. Email your comments to commentsafr.net Past broadcasts of today's Issues are available for listening and viewing in the [email protected] now back to more, of Today's Issues.

Dr. Anthony Fauci is before a Senate committee on health care

And welcome back to Today's Issues. Ed Vitagliano sitting in for Tim Wildmon today, joined in Studio by Fred Jackson, Tony Vitagliano and Krish Woodward. We are talking about Dr. Anthony Fauci and he is before a Senate, committee. Homeland, security. Senator, Rhyen Paul is the committee chair. he and Anthony Fauci, longtime friends. No. Long time enemies. Fierce, fierce enemies. I think it's safe to say they hate each other. So we are covering some of the things that are going on. it looks like, the committee has either taken a break or I don't know how long this is supposed to last. But, anyway. Krish, what, What's the next part of this that we want to take a look at or a listen to?

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. So in the previous half hour we aired a sound bite from Dr. Senator Rand Paul saying he wanted an apology. And the American people are. Ow. An apology from Dr. Fauci here. Somebody else that made a similar comment was Ohio Republican Senator Bernie Sanders who had this to say.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Bernie.

>> Fred Jackson: Bernie Marino.

>> Chris Woodward: Marino. Excuse me.

>> Fred Jackson: He was the reason I ran for office. his policies where he treated American citizens like lab rats was totally and utterly disgusting. And I'm going to see if he has even the the courage to just apologize to the American people for the they put us through.

>> Chris Woodward: Now I'm going to say this to, check out our Today's Issues Facebook page because I'm going to post the C SPAN link so people can watch the thing for themselves live or on demand and find out for themselves what exactly went down. You can see in in real time the various things that we've already aired this morning.

>> Fred Jackson: And that's fine. But a caution to parents.

>> Chris Woodward: Yes.

>> Fred Jackson: Some of the. I've never heard some of the language in a formal Senate hearing that I've heard this morning.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, we're talking about bad words. Yeah, yeah. Bad language.

>> Chris Woodward: I'll put a viewer discretion as advised on our.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Which, which obviously from a Christian perspective, we're all supposed to of course tame the tongue. but, I don't care who's. Who's on top politically and who isn't. That. That members of.

>> Tony Vitagliano: It's not becoming.

>> Ed Vitagliano: It's not becoming. I don't like it when the president does it. And we, and we, and we have said as much and I don't, don't like it. I remember, Joe Biden when he was vice president and they passed Obamacare. He was caught on, that was on a hot mic. But yeah. So anyway, so just be aware folks, that that is if you're going to watch that, make sure the kids Are safely tucked away. Well, that's a shame to have to say that. Yeah, safely tucked away from our senators

>> Tony Vitagliano: hearing is going to be. I have a TV MA up there. Like, what.

>> Chris Woodward: Do you remember the, 80s PSA where, like, the dad confronts his teenage son because he's, he found pot and his K room and he's like, where did you learn to do this? And he said, I learned from watching you. It's like, who taught you to speak like that? My senator.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Yeah, it's one of those C Span dad watching C span son.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, also, by the way, point our folks to, American Family News. We have good coverage on this at afn.

>> Chris Woodward: Thank you very much. We'll, we'll, we'll give you a free subscription to our email newsletter today for those kind words. So American Family News is the name of our news outlet. AFN Net is our website. The cool thing about AFN is we do radio and print news. So if you like to be told what's going on, that's where the radio side of things comes into play. If you like to read what, happened and what people think about it, that can be found on afn.net do check the website often and throughout the day because, what you hear on the radio is not the only thing on afn.net so as I mentioned, on newscasts, visit, afn.uh net for videos, columns, we even have a political cartoon. And while you are there, if you haven't done so already, you can enter your email address and you can subscribe to our free daily email newsletter. Once a day you're going to get a compilation of about five or six stories that our editors put together. And, that'll help you and yours, stay informed throughout the day.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Good. All right, what's next on this?

Anthony Fauci denies that COVID came from a Chinese lab

>> Chris Woodward: All right, so talking about the diaries, Dear Diary, a lot of people are poring over those kinds of things or reading up on news articles, that have some details about the, the, diaries from one Dr. Anthony Fauci. Matt Taibi, one of the investigative journalists and podcasters out there, talks, about how they do show that Fauci covered up the origins of Cove and lied to the people or misled them when it was made known that it did come out of a Wuhan lab clip 5.

>> Bernie Marino: The number one thing is that the distance between what he was saying publicly, and what he believed privately or the information he was getting privately, it's now even more stark. you know, the major issue, I think is Comes at the very beginning when he's having these intense meetings with the scientists who would ultimately write the paper, pooh, poohing the idea that the virus came from a lab. But over half of those people, believe that it actually did come from a lab or that it was a constructed virus. And he never tells anybody that information. It doesn't tell Congress, doesn't tell the public, doesn't tell the president, who he works for, about this information and goes out in public and says it's totally consistent with, you know, natural origin. And for the rest of his tenure he covers this up and the press let him get away with it, which is really, just a function of partisan politics, has nothing to do with science. Which is the, and the irony here is that he became synonymous with science while he was denying it the entire time.

>> Ed Vitagliano: That's good.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, I would just, you know, that's a good turn of phrase reminiscing in my mind. Remember, you couldn't use words on a program like this. Yeah, there were words.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, you mean like ivermectin?

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Oh, yes.

>> Fred Jackson: In the United States of America that has First Amendment.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: Free speech rights. You were, you were canceled.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Myocarditis, myocarditis.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Hydroxychloroquine.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Hydroxychloroquine.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And by the way, to your point, sorry to interrupt. It was Facebook and YouTube and platforms like that who were canceling us. We, we got in trouble for it, but we found out later it was under pressure from the federal government.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, yeah, it was an unbelievable time in this country. Just, you know, we went Russia.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Yes, we did.

>> Fred Jackson: We went Russia.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And basically a flip of a coin. That's how quickly things turned.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes. Based on this one guy. Is it any wonder why this morning, before the hearing got underway, Chad, she's the Fox reporter, he says he's never seen anything like it. There are 80 seats. You can only see so many, what, 40 people inside this hearing room. There were 75, 80 people lined up to get into this thing. It was, it was, it's, it's amazing what this one man did to this country. Because of fear.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: They were able to instill fear in the country. And this is what happens when people get afraid. They will go along with the experts. Air quotes. and he was regarded as the expert. He's going to save your life.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: That's how he was framed. Do what this man says and you will live.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And let me just add to that. Very well said, Fred. Is that this is how totalitarian governments of whatever stripe, this is how they get people to stay in line, is they shuffle forward experts who tell you that this is what you have to do in order to stay safe. And we all know this has been a common way of understanding how freedom disappears and evaporates.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Right?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Is that when people are afraid, they will trade their freedom in order to, in their minds, stay safe or to get fed or whatever the case may be. Which is why people remain suspicious of the federal government in our own country. And this is why I, This is why I believe the conspiracy, quote, unquote, industry in this country. I don't. I don't, debunk it now anymore, because people are very concerned with. With red flags. Is that what they call it? Red flag, where. Where some story gets put forward and everyone gets suspicious? Are they trying to drive us towards a more totalitarian form of government by making us afraid?

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. And the thinking is there. You know, I. We've talked about this many times before, but just a reminder, what happened in Canada. Remember the truckers because of Cove The truckers dispute. And what did then Prime Minister Trudeau did? Do you people have unacceptable views? I'm freezing your bank accounts.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Crazy.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Which is why, Tony. And we haven't given up on you, Krish. which is why I don't like the idea of a cashless society, for example. I don't. I. I don't. I used to. I used to trust our government, okay? Now I'm just, I've said this before when I was growing up and I was in junior. Not junior high so much, but certainly in high school, college, and we were in the Vietnam War, I defended our country, okay? And my attitude was basically, my country, right or wrong. And there were a lot of things I believed about America and about our government that I would defend, because in my mind, it's either this or the commies, okay? But over the years, and this has accelerated in the last 10, 15, but especially since COVID My. My understanding is that there are people in government, and Anthony Fauci is one of them, who will, Who will go to any lengths to move us towards a globalist agenda, whatever you want to say. I don't trust these people.

When they have too much power, too much evil can come from it

And that's why I say when they have too much power, too much evil can come from it. And this is a reflection of what our founders thought.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: M. Well said.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Yeah, It's. It's. It is a totalitarian state. Their goal is to, like you said, chip away at Your, freedoms or take them away entirely and suppress, suppress questioning and suppress, actions that would cause them to, well, that would dig too deep.

You could look at the symptoms of the virus that began to develop

All right, so you. They were pushing the natural origin of this virus. You could look at the. Using common sense. I don't know. I don't know anything about infectious diseases. I'm not a biologist. I'm not, you know, a medical expert. But you could look at these symptoms of the virus that began to develop and that as we got more information, there were more cases. You could look at that and see, like, this is not something that just springs up in the wild. This is engineered. You're, you know, you lose your sense of taste. you know, things like long Covid, people having cardiovascular issues far beyond, you know, the. The years beyond when they first had the virus. so you could see that this is not something natural. this was clearly something that was manufactured and engineered to affect people in a certain way. And yet when you began to ask, even asking that question got you shut down, suppressed, you know, canceled anytime. We, you know, we had fights with YouTube and other platforms for just asking questions. And that, to me, is a clear sign that a government is acting in its own interest. And the interest being, like you said, to limit. See what we can get away with in limiting the freedoms and movement of people.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. You know, the sad thing, we've talked about the businesses and the impacts on education. a lot of family members today still don't speak to one another based on things that started in 2020. Aunt so and so, believed this or dad, posted this on Facebook, and as a result, family members don't even speak to one another, anymore. It used to be that, like, religion or politics divided, a family, and Covid tore people apart, just based on things that people posted on social media. And just to remind everybody, Ed alluded to this a little bit a minute ago. It's not a conspiracy theory to say that big tech or big social prevented people from sharing things.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Oh, yeah.

>> Chris Woodward: Mark Zuckerberg said as much in a letter, an official letter to members of the House, in the transition from Democratic control to Republican control. and some said, well, he was just trying to get into the good graces and get some tax breaks or whatever. No, he mentioned that the Biden administration pressured Facebook, to do these things. And if they were doing it to Facebook, it stands to reason that we're doing it to all the other social media moguls out there as well.

Fred Kaplan: This became a political issue when Trump took office

>> Tony Vitagliano: Well, and lastly, I'M going to touch on this and I think kind of related to what we'll move on to, maybe, Krish has some more on this or whether we'll move on. this became a political issue. So I remember when, when his first, first got going, you had Fauci and Trump doing the briefings every day and it seemed like everybody, it was kind of refreshing for a minute because it seemed like everybody's just on the same page. Left, right, it doesn't matter. We're just trying to figure out how we can, how we can beat this thing because, you know, at the time we all thought it was, I don't know, the apocalypse, the way they were presenting it. But then as Trump began to diverge from Fauci, well, what is the media going to do, the Democrat leftist media, what are they going to do? Automatically side with Fauci? Because wherever Trump's going, we ain't going there. And we've, you know, Fauci is the science and Trump is, you know, telling people to drink, tank cleaner, blah, blah, blah. So then it became no longer about the truth and actually about science, scientific based evidence. It became political. Remember, I remember when they were talking about the vaccine operation warp speed, you had Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, all these Democratic, politicians saying, well, you're going to take the, you're going to take the vaccine. Absolutely not. I'm not going to, I don't trust it's, you know, because it was Trump, it was Trump. But as soon as Trump was out in 2020, he lost in 2021 world round. Remember 2021, that was the year of really hitting hard vaccine mandates. I'm talking people talking nurses, you know, members of the military, of the military, airline workers. That was when they hit the ground running and they were all for the vaccine at that point because it was politically expedient.

>> Chris Woodward: You know, you were talking about how big government has, been responsible for a lot of bad stuff here. one example of that is, you know, when it came to Biden saying, if you work for a hospital that takes federal dollars, you have to get the shot, otherwise we're not going to give your employer money. for operation purposes. The Supreme Court ruled that based on how the federal law is written by Congress, that that could be allowed. That is another example of how big government, even decades ago, caused a lot of this problem because they got too big and they started doing things the government should never have done in the first place.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, and let me just Say this, and then, Fred, I know you were having to raise hands here to, an end. Listen, this is. I had mentioned this just kind of a throwaway just a few minutes ago about our founders who wanted to divide power, separate power, checks and balances. Because too much power cannot be invested in any one branch or any one level of government. You got city, you know, state, federal, all that kind of thing. They understood human nature. And I've gotten to the point now where I, I am not happy, for example, with the U.S. let me just. I want to make sure I say this the right way. I get very suspicious about our, wars. Okay? Iraq and Afghanistan for 20 years. Now we're in, it looks like an ongoing war in Iran. folks, sorry we hadn't come back and jumped into that pot. maybe we can in Steve's segment. But, it now is clear to me that big corporations, which are necessary if you want to have a capitalist society, they are a part of that economic system, but they carry enormous weight with the people who make decisions. They have enormous numbers of dollars at stake. And having a war where they have to get reimbursed to build more missiles, rather than letting the missiles stay in a, you know, cruiser or destroyer, they will give money to politicians who will vote for this or that big pharma. Okay. They're tremendous amount of dollars that go into the campaigns of people. all this stuff, this big money from corporations has infected our political system. I'm not saying they shouldn't be allowed to give. I'm not sure what the answer is, but I no longer have the confidence I used to have that the people who are making decisions, I never, I don't have the confidence anymore that they're representing me.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Right.

>> Ed Vitagliano: That they are representing the people who help them get reelected first and foremost. And I come at least second or even further down the list.

Fred Frum: Look at what Democratic socialists are doing now

All right, rant is over.

>> Fred Jackson: Well, you know, our conversation has been around the Fauci appearance on the Senate hearing today. But, you know, let us not think for a moment that, dangers to our freedom are gone now. You know, Covid's done, et cetera. It is why we are paying a lot of attention to the Democratic Socialists of America. Because right now it's being sold as a government doing something for you. Look at what Mamdani is doing in NewSong York. M Already just this week. What has he done? He is doxing people who own more than one house in NewSong York. He is publicizing their names and addresses. Why is that because he doesn't think you should own, more than one house. So what he's doing is punishing these people.

>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Because doxing could very well lead to people protesting in front of your house or worse.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes. So this is the way these Democrat socialists operate. I'm here. I'm the government, like the old Ronald Reagan. I'm, the government, and I'm here to help you. And what did Reagan. He warned against that. Watch out for that. This is exactly what these Democratic socialists are doing, whether it's in Michigan now or whether it's NewSong York, whatever the case may be. Watch out for this, folks. They're not there to do something for you. The ultimate goal is to do something

>> Ed Vitagliano: to you and to do something for themselves.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes. And big government, and big government control.

>> Tony Vitagliano: And there's so much overlap between those groups. So a lot of the members of the DSA party now were the ones back in 2020 and 2021 screaming at people sitting outside of a cafe not wearing their mask.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes. Yeah.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Ah, there. And, you know, some of them probably are still showing up to rallies wearing mask. So they are for. They are for, totalitarian actions by a government, because that's the only way you gain power and enforce the elements of socialism and, quite frankly, communism that you need to.

>> Chris Woodward: There were people yesterday at the, National Cathedral funeral proceedings for Senator Lindsey Graham. There were people there yesterday wearing masks.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I still see it. I still see it in Northeast Mississippi when I go to the stores locally, whatever, go fill up with gas. There's still people wearing masks. Listen, to your point, Fred, this, this story, the reason we've spent so much time on this story today is because the hearing was going on today, and there was one more confrontation between Rand Paul and Anthony Fauci. By the way, I did see on, one of the crawlers, I think it was Fox, that the final total, I'm guessing they're done for the day. On this hearing, the final total was Fauci pleading the fifth 111 times. And now that started, I. I guess we're Central time, so it'd be 7:30 our time. Did it start 8:30? Roughly. Roughly. Okay. So we're talking about probably about three hours worth. And he, If I got that 40, 40.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Just within the hour we've been doing this.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, that's right.

>> Tony Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: So 111 times in three hours. That's a lot of pleading the fifth.

>> Chris Woodward: We didn't even get into whether or not you could be pardoned for something. You'd never actually been indicted or convicted of.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, yeah, that.

Paul Begala: I don't like blanket pardons for government employees

Now, we had this discussion this morning, folks. We, you've heard, if you've listened to this program, you, you know, we have a early, morning, earlier morning meeting about what we're going to discuss, you know, what clips to have ready and so on and so forth. we did discuss this because we, I don't know, a couple of years ago when, Biden was on the way out and he, like you mentioned, pardoned Fauci. And our understanding, we had an attorney or two on here, probably Abe Hamilton III and Jenna Ellis, and we asked the question about these pardons, and our understanding is that the pardons cover whatever was done before the pardon is issued. It's not a lifetime pardon going forward. So Anthony Fauci can't, you know, bump somebody off and say, hey, I've been pardoned for it. This only covers what had happened for both him and Hunter, Hunter Biden and so on and so forth. What had happened up to that point.

>> Chris Woodward: I'm still trying to wrap my head around how you can try to impeach somebody that's not even in office. So it is on that same level as Democrats trying to impeach Trump when he's not even in a position to be impeached. Look, it's that same mentality.

>> Tony Vitagliano: I don't like the. I don't, quite frankly, I don't like the pardoning authority that the president has. I know it's. I know it's in there. It's Constitution. it's there. but I just don't like that. It's, it's. Biden here says that he gave the full and unconditional pardon, which covers any offenses Fouchy may have committed between January 1, 2014, and the date of the pardon arising from his services. So, basically, hey, I'm not. And he says it's not an acknowledgment of wrongdoing. We just want to protect him from, you know, unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions. But if there's something that's prosecutable there, someone should be held accountable for it. I don't like this blanket pardoning. I don't like it. No matter who's doing it. I don't. I don't like it. I don't like blanket pardons.

>> Chris Woodward: It's just the Constitution is there to help you in those moments. You shouldn't need a pardon because you have a constitutional right to all kinds of things.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, I understand about the political, politically motivated, attacks on someone. I understand why it's there. I don't. I personally don't mind it. I don't think it should apply to what you're supposed to be doing as a government employee. So, you know, you need to answer questions about the policies you instituted. All right, folks, we're going to take a five minute break for news. We'll be right back.

>> Tony Vitagliano: The views and opinions expressed in this

>> Chris Woodward: broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.

Ed, Tony and Fred talk with Chris on top news headlines of the day including a discussion on Dr. Fauci appearing before a senate hearing. 

Chapters:

(00:00) Anthony Fauci appearing before Senate committee on Homeland Security this morning

(04:37) Anthony Fauci refuses to answer questions under Fifth Amendment

(10:42) Jon Ernst: Fauci's already been pardoned for this

(15:28) Tony Robbins: Federal government has way too much power in experiments

(17:39) Senator Peters speaks with Dr. Anthony Fauci ahead of today's hearing

(22:50) Chris Bell: Fauci failed to acknowledge mistakes regarding vaccines

(24:34) Preborn Network helps mothers facing unexpected pregnancies discover hope through a free ultrasound

(27:21) Dr. Anthony Fauci is before a Senate committee on health care

(31:29) Anthony Fauci denies that COVID came from a Chinese lab

(37:58) When they have too much power, too much evil can come from it

(38:28) You could look at the symptoms of the virus that began to develop

(41:02) Fred Kaplan: This became a political issue when Trump took office

(45:55) Fred Frum: Look at what Democratic socialists are doing now

(49:21) Paul Begala: I don't like blanket pardons for government employees