MAGA supporters are repeating calls for Dr. Anthony Fauci to be prosecuted after Donald Trump was elected for a second term in office.
Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was a prominent figure advising the Trump administration in its response to the coronavirus pandemic. He later served as President Joe Biden's chief medical advisor between January 2021 and December 2022.
Republicans have since turned on him, particularly allies of Trump, claiming that the infectious disease expert tried to suppress information about the origins of Covid-19. They have also baselessly claimed he funded research that triggered a pandemic that killed millions of people.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's transition team via email for comment.
Some have even said he should be prosecuted. "My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci," Elon Musk tweeted in 2022.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz tweeted that same year: "Dr. Fauci flat-out lied to Congress. Yet Merrick Garland and the Biden DOJ won't prosecute."
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is tipped to be President-elect Trump's secretary of Health and Human Services and has pushed baseless conspiracy theories about vaccines, told Fox News in 2023 that Fauci should be prosecuted if he has committed crimes.
"If there were crimes that he committed, of course, I would tell the attorney general to prosecute him, not hold off," Kennedy said.
It is not clear which charge would be brought against Fauci if he were to be prosecuted. Fauci has denied the accusations against him.
Amid Trump's victory in last week's election, his allies have stepped up calls to have Dr. Fauci prosecuted, with Musk, who has been accused of pushing anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, tweeting again on Tuesday: "My pronouns are still prosecute/Fauci."
In response, MAGA firebrand Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote: "I agree! I told Dr. Fauci to his face that he should be in jail and prosecuted for crimes against humanity."
Before the election was called on Wednesday, molecular biologist Richard H. Ebright wrote on X: "Very bad night for unindicted felon Fauci...who now is on an fast track to becoming indicted and convicted felon Anthony Fauci."
Despite the calls, it is very unlikely Fauci will be prosecuted. President-elect Trump has not called for Fauci to be prosecuted himself.
Earlier this year, Fauci told CNN: "I don't know what one would prosecute me for...I played a major role in the development of the vaccine that was responsible for the saving of millions of lives...I'm definitely guilty of that."
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