Judge orders Fauci, Biden officials to be deposed in social media collusion case
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Judge grants depositions of Fauci, Jen Psaki and other high ranking Biden officials in case over 'collusive relationship' between administration and social media companies to 'censor free speech'
By Ruth Bashinsky For Dailymail.Com 11:10 EDT 22 Oct 2022 , updated 12:11 EDT 22 Oct 2022
- US District Judge Terry Doughty granted the request led by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry
- The suit alleges the Biden administration actively worked with social media companies and encouraged them to censor 'disfavored' viewpoints and were in violation of the First Amendment rights of those individuals
- Anthony Fauci, Jen Psaki, the former White House Press Secretary, FBI Supervisory Special Agent Elvis Chan, among others will be deposed
- Before Friday's order, the judge gave the White House 21 days to comply
- He threw away the Justice Department's attempt to use executive privilege
- Doughty ruled that executive privilege does not apply to external communications by White House officials
A federal judge has ordered Dr. Anthony Fauci and a slew of other high-ranking Biden officials to be deposed over the government's alleged collusion with social media companies to 'censor free speech.'
On Friday, the court granted the request brought by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, both republicans.
Both accused the Biden administration of having 'worked hand-in-hand' with social media giants to 'censor' news stories that reflect negatively on the White House and called it an 'egregious attack on our First Amendment,' a report said.
The suit alleges that the Biden administration actively worked with social media companies and encouraged them to censor 'disfavored' viewpoints and speakers in violation of the First Amendment rights of those individuals.
In his decision, U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty asserted that Fauci's prior public comments in relation to national pandemic policy made him a relevant figure in the case and ordered his deposition.
'The American people deserve answers on how the federal government has colluded with social media companies to censor free speech,' Schmitt said.
Other high-ranking officials who must sit for deposition include: Jen Psaki, the former White House Press Secretary, Director of White House Digital Strategy Rob Flaherty or former White House Senior COVID-19 Advisory Andrew Slavitt.
FBI Supervisory Special Agent Elvis Chan, CISA Director Jen Easterly or CISA official Lauren Protentis, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, CDC Chief of the Digital Media Branch Carol Crawford, and acting Coordinator of the State Department's Global Engagement Center Daniel Kimmage are also deposed.
'Throughout this case, we have uncovered a disturbing amount of collusion between Big Tech and Big Government,' Landry said in a statement on Monday.
The 164-page lawsuit was filed late last week, but an updated Monday filing indicates that the Republican officials are widening their legal efforts to target 47 more government departments, agencies and officials in addition to the 20 defendants originally listed.
President Joe Biden, current Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Nina Jankowicz, who was meant to head Biden's now-defunct Disinformation Governance Board, are among the dozens of defendants listed in the suit.
'Lastly, Plaintiffs argue that Dr. Fauci's credibility has been in question on matters related to supposed COVID-19 'misinformation' since 2020. Specifically, Plaintiffs state that Dr. Fauci has made public statements on the efficacy of masks, the percentage of the population needed for herd immunity, NIAID's funding of 'gain-of-function' virus research in Wuhan, the lab-leak theory, and more,' he wrote.
'Plaintiffs urge that his comments on these important issues are relevant to the matter at hand and are further reasons why Dr. Fauci should be deposed. Plaintiffs assert that they should not be required to simply accept Dr. Fauci's 'self-serving blanket denials' that were issued from someone other than himself at face value. The Court agrees,' he continued.
Doughty - who was appointed by Donald Trump - cast aside the Justice Department's attempt to use executive privilege, claiming that it would only apply to internal administration emails. Emails with outside executives were fair game, he ruled.
Their correspondences are also 'obviously very relevant' to the case, the judge wrote in his 10-page opinion.
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'Dr. Fauci's communications would be relevant to Plaintiffs' allegations in reference to alleged suppression of speech relating to the lab-leak theory of COVID-19's origin, and to alleged suppression of speech about the efficiency of masks and COVID-19 lockdowns,' the court filing states.
'Jean-Pierre's communications as White House Press Secretary could be relevant to all of Plaintiffs' examples.'
Examples of social media 'censorship' in Louisiana and Missouri's lawsuit
- 'On April 8, 2021, YouTube "deleted a video in which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and a handful of medical experts," including Plaintiffs Bhattacharya and Kulldorff, "questioned the effectiveness of having children wear masks to stop the spread of COVID-19."'
- 'On August 10, 2021, "YouTube barred Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) from uploading new videos to the site for seven days, after the ophthalmologist posted a video last week arguing that most masks 'don't work' against the coronavirus."'
- 'Twitter permanently suspended the account of prominent lockdown critic Alex Berenson, despite repeated reassurances from high-level Twitter executives that his account was safe, just days after Dr. Fauci singled him out as a danger for suggesting young people might reasonably decline the vaccine.'
- 'Perhaps most notoriously, social-media platforms aggressively censored an October 14, 2020 New York Post expose about the contents of the laptop of (then-Candidate Biden's son) Hunter Biden, which had been abandoned in a Delaware repair shop and contained compromising photos and email communications about corrupt foreign business deals.
'As the New York Post reported at the time, "[b]oth Twitter and Facebook took extraordinary censorship measures against The Post on Wednesday over its exposes about Hunter Biden's emails.'
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Ruh-roh...
How much you want to bet they all go in and give their depositions without crying to the scotus about it?
Well, has there been any consequences for democrats?
Can we get DC juries to follow the law?
Our institutions have been poisoned.
How much you wanna bet all of them plea the 5th?
Well, I would say it's a suckers bet that they all go in and give depositions to start with, nevermind the amount of crying and to whom.
Just more stupid bullshit from a right-wing Trump appointed judge and Fox spews.
So... It's the juries that are the problem now? How about the Kyle Rittenhouse jury? Were they "poisoned"?
If Rittenhouse were tried in DC he would have been found guilty of attempted murder.
I'd think it would be clear to anyone that for certain cases the political affiliation of a juror is a good predictor of whether they will voter guilty or innocent. In a city like DC there probably wouldn't be more than one or two Republicans in the whole jury pool and they'd never be allowed to serve on the actual jury.
Is this case in DC? The article says Missouri. Only DC juries are corrupt not Missouri juries?
Is there only election fraud if you lose and none if you win?
DC juries are always corrupt.
What did you think of the admissions of the jurors who acquited OJ Simpson?
Was OJ tried in DC?
Those damn Onion people - at it again.
And so it begins. Stripping away left-wing deception ... one layer at a time.
Fauci lied to Congress; and nothing happened to him thanks to Democrats.
Let's see if he has the temerity to lie in a court of law under oath?
Wonder how many government officials will try to claim Presidential confidentiality? The hypocrisy would blatant after Trump officials were denied by the courts and Jan 6th committee. They deserve no protection or cover. The precedent has been set.
Fauci's ego has no limits. He's lied to the world about the Covid pandemic since 2019.
Nope. This is just more nonsensical lies from Trump and far-right wing fascists.
It is Trump's ego and narcissism that knows no bounds.
Fauci has been a conscientious public servant for his whole career.
Thanks to Fauci, the death toll from COVID was much less than it could have been.
Thanks to Trump, the death toll from COVID was much higher.
These "nonsensical lies" were basically bragged about not long after the election....
Biden had a vaccine for the entirety of his presidency and multiple treatments and still killed more than Trump. If trump was so bad, what an absolute piece of shit Biden must be.
You forget the timeline. Biden took COVID seriously while Trump didn't.
The same Biden that declared the pandemic over and then used it in an attempt to circumvent Congress?
Seriously enough to kill far more Americans than his predecessor, in spite of having every advantage. Everything Biden touch’s turns to crap.
According to some people, Trump never advocated for Covid vaccines during his presidency. This made me laugh, because according to my CDC vaccine card, I received my first dose shot on January 13, 2021. Imagine that.
Biden got his first shot in December of 2020. Damn that trump.
I wasn't "that" important so I had to wait a few more weeks!
BULLSHIT!!
This is just rehashing long debunked far right-wing propaganda.
It’s almost as if the right is just pissed that their hopes of a much high Covid death toll were muted. It would have been so much easier to stay in power with a death total that they could try and pin on their enemies. More death = more potential in the eyes of the new Republicans.