Fauci On Viral Exchange With Jim Jordan: ‘This Has Nothing To Do With Liberties’

Fauci On Viral Exchange With Jim Jordan: ‘This Has Nothing To Do With Liberties’

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday addressed the tense exchange he had with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) during a congressional hearing on the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the back-and-forth on Thursday, a clip of which was viewed hundreds of thousands of times on Twitter, Jordan threw a tantrum about the government's virus mitigation efforts, ranting about guidelines that encourage the use of masks and warn against large gatherings.

Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser and the country's top infectious disease expert, said during an interview with CNN's Dana Bash on Sunday that he doesn't “enjoy those kinds of confrontations.”

“But it was very, very clear that he was talking about liberties that were being restricted,” Fauci said. “This has nothing to do with liberties, Dana.”

“We're talking about the fact that 560,000 people in our country have died,” he continued. “We're talking about ... 70,000 new infections per day. That's the issue. This is a public health issue. It's not a civil liberties issue.”

Earlier in the interview, Bash noted that many Republicans are opposed to getting the vaccine. According to a Monmouth University poll conducted earlier this month, 43% of Republicans said they won't get vaccinated against COVID-19; just 5% of Democrats responded similarly. 

“It is quite