Watchdog Group files Ethics Complaint Against Dr. Fauci

Watchdog files Hatch Act complaint against Fauci for possible ‘prohibited political speech’

Fauci compared Trump and Biden in the Washington Post before the 2020 election.

By Nicholas Sherman

A federal watchdog group filed a complaint Wednesday urging the Office of Special Counsel to investigate statements made by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci to see if they violated government rules on political speech made by federal employees.

Protect the Public’s Trust, an ethics watchdog, alleges certain comments Fauci made during interviews are in violation of the Hatch Act, a congressional act that limits federal government employees from engaging in certain political activities using their official authority.

The group said that four days before the November 2020 presidential election, Fauci made a series of statements to The Washington Post that “may have crossed the line into prohibited political speech,” which “left little doubt regarding which campaign he supported and the dire public health implications associated with choosing one candidate over another.”

Though the watchdog’s statement didn’t mention the article by name, The Washington Post published an article of an interview with Fauci on Oct. 31, four days before the election headlined, “‘A whole lot of hurt’: Fauci warns of covid-19 surge, offers blunt assessment of Trump’s response.”

In the article, Fauci talks about the state of the pandemic in October as well as former President Trump’s handling of the virus.

“We’re in for a whole lot of hurt. It’s not a good situation,” Fauci said in the interview.  “All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors. You could not possibly be positioned more poorly.”

Just The News reached out to Fauci’s office requesting fair comment but did not receive a reply by the time of publishing.

The watchdog argues that by giving his evaluation of Trump and Biden’s approaches to handling the pandemic he “crossed into partisan advocacy” and should be investigated. However, it is not clear which Fauci comments in the interview the watchdog views as a breach of the Hatch Act.

“When high-ranking officials use their official positions to advocate for a specific candidate, they abuse this trust and may violate the law,” Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public’s Trust, said in a statement Wednesday. “In order to restore trust in government, it’s essential that the rules be enforced fairly and equally and that officials wielding tremendous power answer for violations they may have committed.”

__________

RELATED ARTICLES

UK government watchdog probing Amazon, Google over alleged fake review problems

Judge stops feds from seizing safe deposit boxes in $85M raid, citing due process rights

Watchdog group files complaint alleging Florida Democratic Rep. Demings committed ethics violation

*********

(TLB) published this article with permission of John Solomon at Just the News.  Click Here to read about the staff at Just the News

Some emphasis and pictorial content added by (TLB)

Header featured image (edited) credit: Fauci/Getty

••••

••••

Stay tuned to …

••••

The Liberty Beacon Project is now expanding at a near exponential rate, and for this we are grateful and excited! But we must also be practical. For 7 years we have not asked for any donations, and have built this project with our own funds as we grew. We are now experiencing ever increasing growing pains due to the large number of websites and projects we represent. So we have just installed donation buttons on our websites and ask that you consider this when you visit them. Nothing is too small. We thank you for all your support and your considerations … (TLB)

••••

Comment Policy: As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats of violence, racism, or personal/abusive attacks on other users. This also applies to trolling, the use of more than one alias, or just intentional mischief. Enforcement of this policy is at the discretion of this websites administrators. Repeat offenders may be blocked or permanently banned without prior warning.

••••

Disclaimer: TLB websites contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of “fair use” in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, health, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.

••••

Disclaimer: The information and opinions shared are for informational purposes only including, but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material are not intended as medical advice or instruction. Nothing mentioned is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.