“I don’t look at this as a liberty thing,” President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said Thursday when Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) asked when Americans will be given the liberties they lost to the government because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Are we just going to continue this forever?” Jordan asked Fauci at a House hearing on the pandemic, calling on the doctor to provide a standard that will determine when the public will be freed from the restrictions on their liberties.
“You're indicating liberty and freedom. I look at it as a public health measure to prevent people from dying,” Fauci replied – prompting Rep. Jordan to ask Fauci if Americans’ liberties have been threatened during the pandemic.
"I don't look at this as a liberty thing, Congressman Jordan, I look at this as a public health thing,” Fauci replied again.
"You think the Constitution is suspended during a virus, during a pandemic? It is certainly not," Rep. Jordan shot back.
Rep. Jordan listed Americans’ rights – ranging from freedom of religion to freedom of speech – that “have all been assaulted” during the pandemic:
“Dr. Fauci, over the last year, Americans' First Amendment rights have been completely attacked. Your right to go to church, your right to assemble, your right to petition your government, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, have all been assaulted.”