You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Dr. Fauci Shuts Down Rep. Jim Jordan in Heated Exchange over Public Health Measures

HeadlineApr 16, 2021

The United States confirmed more than 74,000 new coronavirus cases Thursday and over 900 new deaths. Michigan’s largest hospital system is nearing capacity with over 90% of beds filled — with suburban Detroit reporting some of the highest rates of infection in the U.S.

On Capitol Hill, Republican Congressmember Jim Jordan got into a heated conversation with senior White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci — accusing him of seeking to deprive Americans of their liberties by promoting mask mandates and social distancing.

Rep. Jim Jordan: “What standard, what objective outcome do we have to reach before — before Americans get their liberty and freedoms back?”

Dr. Anthony Fauci: “You know, you’re indicating liberty and freedom. I look at it as a public health measure to prevent people from dying and going to the hospital.”

Rep. Jim Jordan: “You don’t think Americans’ liberties have been threatened the last year, Dr. Fauci? They’ve been assaulted! Their liberties have.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci: “I don’t look at this as a liberty thing, Congressman Jordan. I look at this” —

Rep. Jim Jordan: “Well, that’s obvious!”

Dr. Anthony Fauci: — “as a public health thing.”

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top