Tarlov Swats Down Fauci Criticisms on Fox News, Reminds Co-Hosts of Trump-Woodward Covid Tapes

The Five’s liberal co-host on Wednesday, Jessica Tarlov, defended Dr. Anthony Fauci against accusations of being a “partisan hack” and swatted down host Greg Gutfeld calling former president Donald Trump the most “transparent politician” he has ever seen.

The exchange kicked off with Judge Jeanine Pirro asking Tarlov why the left is defending Fauci.

“Jessica, the question that I have of you, it was Fauci’s agency and the NIH that gave $5 million in new grants for the same Wuhan-linked group, EcoHealth Alliance, despite U.S. intelligence assessing a lab release was, that was one of only two explanations. And yet everybody on the left is defending him,” Pirro asked.

“Well, I think there’s a difference between defending Anthony Fauci and saying that we should understand where a disease that killed millions of people across the globe and over a million Americans came from,” Tarlvo replied, adding:

I’ve been consistent on that. I want to know exactly what happened. There were a number of stories, starting with a pangolin, whatever that is, in a wet market and ending up now where most people who I talked to and they’re generally of the liberal persuasion, thinks that it came from a lab and they would like to know what happened there.

So that feels like a real piece of bipartisan agreement that we can go to. And there are other Western democracies, I believe, majority of them, that also fund gain of function research. We’re not going to be the only ones that were linked with funneling money into this lab.

“So then, why is the press secretary not allowing the question to be asked of him?” Pirro pushed back, referring to a contentious moment during Fauci’s farewell press conference Tuesday.

Tarlov said that question was “above her pay grade,” but when pushed by Pirro said she would have answered the question.

“So what am I supposed to say? I would answer the question if I was the press secretary, I would answer the question or I would say to my boss, I have to answer this question,” Tarlov concluded.

Tarlov was then pushed to defend government guidance regarding masks and vaccines.

“You did admit that it was other Trump, other officials of the administration, Jerome Adams who was the surgeon general, who has since apologized for it. I think that they didn’t know what to do when resources were so scarce. And obviously, doctors and nurses and the people who were working in the hospitals, first responders, were the ones who needed those masks more than those of us who could stay at home,” Tarlvo replied, referencing earlier remarks about rationing masks early in the pandemic.

“You don’t get to choose who gets the mask, every life matters… Everyone deserves the mask,” shot back guest co-host Lawrence Jones.

“Doctors working in the E.R. deserved masks more than me. Period. End of story. Can I just comment on a couple of things Dagen said. Anthony Fauci is this blatant partisan. He has served in multiple Democratic and Republican administrations. He is not a partisan hack,” Tarlov replied.

“Seven, seven,” said Pirro in the background, referring to Fauci serving in seven administrations.

“He is now,” doubled down Dagen McDowell.

“Stop. Stop. To the point about Trump being the most transparent about this. Carl Bernstein [Bob Woodward] has him on tape admitting that he knew that the disease was airborne, even though he came out and told Americans that it wasn’t,” noted Tarlov, recalling recorded conversations made public in September 2020 in which Trump privately warned Covid-19 was dangerous while at the time downplaying it in public.

Tarlov and Pirro then discussed the potential children’s Tylenol shortage facing the country, which both hosts agreed was worrying for young children as the respiratory syncytial virus spreads.

“Do you remember when Fauci said AIDS was airborne and it wasn’t? Good times,” interjected Gutfeld at the end of the conversation.

Watch the full clip via Fox News

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