Fauci Dismisses ‘Bizarre’ Attacks from GOP Lawmakers: ‘I Have More Important Things to Do Than Worry About That’

Dr. Anthony Fauci responded Friday to criticism he’s received from several Republican lawmakers and others.

Fox News’ Neil Cavuto started by asking him about Johns Hopkins Professor Dr. Marty Makary, who swiped at Fauci this week saying his herd immunity forecast is too cautious.

Fauci said Makary is “completely misunderstanding” his point and said, “Regarding being too cautious, we want to make sure that when we make recommendations, we do it on the basis of the science.”

Cavuto asked him about his previous comments on potentially wearing masks into 2022.

Fauci responded that he was “taken totally out of context” and said he’s viewing it as within the realm of possibility, not something that’s definitely going to happen.

“We’re playing this game here. You take a word or a sentence somebody says and you throw a gotcha at them. No, I did not say definitively unquestionably we’ll be wearing masks in 2022. I said under certain circumstances that might be conceivable that we would have to. But there are circumstances in which we may not have to,” he continued.

Cavuto brought up criticism from Senator Marco Rubio saying a few weeks ago, “His job is NOT to mislead or scare us into doing the ‘right things.'”

“I don’t know how to answer that without sounding hostile. Because I’m not,” Fauci responded. He said he’s not trying to scare people, just to make recommendations based on the science.

Cavuto asked Fauci about critical comments from Mark Meadows, a particularly bonkers rant from Peter Navarro, and Lindsey Graham saying Fauci should go to the border to see “the biggest super spreader event in the nation – President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.”

“You know, Neil, I’ve become, for some reason or other, a symbol to them of what they don’t like about anything that has to do with things that are contrary to them, anything outside of their own realm. It’s a little bit bizarre, I would say,” Fauci responded.

He dismissed Navarro’s “weird” rant and said Graham’s comment doesn’t make sense because he’s not involved in border policy.

“Nobody is denying that it is not a difficult problem at the border,” Fauci said. “I was just a little bit concerned when people equate what I do with the border. I mean, I don’t know the reasons for the animus. I’m really not quite sure. And quite frankly, Neil, I’m so busy trying to do some important things to preserve the health and the safety of the American people that I can’t be bothered with getting distracted with these people that are doing these ad hominems again. It really doesn’t bother me. You brought it up. It’s one of those things that, you know, if they want to do that, let them do it. I have more important things to do than worry about that.”

You can watch above, via Fox News.