Dr. Fauci Calls Out Tucker Carlson, Peter Navarro: They ‘Weaponize Lies’ That Are ‘Killing People’

Dr. Anthony Fauci says he takes it as a “badge of honor” to be attacked by people like Peter Navarro and Fox News’ Tucker Carlson who spread misinformation about the coronavirus.

MSNBC’s Ari Melber spoke to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director on Tuesday night, and he concluded by asking Fauci for his reactions to what people have been saying about him around the Internet. Fauci answered that “I’m not in it for a popularity contest. I have devoted my entire professional career to try and safeguard and preserve the health and lives of the American people.”

“As an infectious disease doctor who deals with outbreaks, that gets extended to the rest of the world. That’s what I do,” Fauci continued. “The praise or the arrows and slings are irrelevant. I do what science drives you to do, and that’s what I do. I’m not in it for a popularity contest. I’m trying to save lives. The people who weaponize lies are killing people. So the only question I have is that, when you show Tucker Carlson and Peter Navarro criticizing me, I consider that a badge of honor.”

The animosity that Carlson and Navarro have for Fauci is deep-rooted and well documented by this point.

Carlson, who has repeatedly sown doubt and misinformation over the efficacy of vaccines, has gone after Fauci time and again over the course of the pandemic. As for Navarro, he un-apologetically attacked Fauci when they both served under Donald Trump, and that hasn’t changed since Trump’s presidency came to an end.

Fauci, for his part, has mostly responded to these attacks by brushing them off as “conspiracy theories” and distractions from his work.

Watch above, via MSNBC.