nypost.com
GOP Sen. Marshall to push ‘FAUCI’ Act after top doc calls him ‘moron’
Sen. Roger Marshall is hoping a hot-mic moment with Dr. Anthony Fauci leads to support for his bill that would force the publication of White House officials' financial records.
Politics
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) is hoping a hot-mic moment with Dr. Anthony Fauci earlier this week leads to a groundswell of support for his bill that would force the publication of White House officials’ financial records.
The bill, formally titled the Financial Accountability for Uniquely Compensated Individuals (FAUCI) Act, would also require the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) to publish a list of government officials whose financial disclosures are not publicly available, according to multiple outlets.
Marshall clashed with the White House chief medical adviser during a Senate hearing Tuesday after the senator asked Fauci: “Would you be willing to submit to Congress and the public a financial disclosure that includes your past and current investments?”
“My financial disclosure is public knowledge and has been so for the last 37 years or so,” said Fauci, who later called Marshall “so misinformed, it’s extraordinary.”
“We cannot find them. Our office cannot find them. Where would they be if they are public knowledge?” Marshall asked.
“It is totally accessible to you if you want it,” Fauci said.
“For the public? Is it accessible to the public?” Marshall continued.
“To the public, to the public!” Fauci insisted.
“Great, we look forward to reviewing it,” Marshall said.
Immediately after the exchange, Fauci was heard muttering into the live mic, “What a moron! Jesus Christ!”
Marshall brushed off the remark, telling Fox News Digital that he “did not take it personal one bit.”
“Well, I think we were both very much in the moment,” he said, later adding, “I was focused on the true facts [like] the fact that he just lied to Congress.”
According to Marshall, his office attempted to track down Fauci’s financial records “for weeks.” After putting in requests to both the doctor’s staff and the National Institutes of Health, the senator ultimately was unable to obtain them.
“It takes the NIH, it takes this White House months to respond to any type of request for information, and then it’s redacted,” he told Fox. “It’s quite a game they’re playing. So I was shocked, I was shocked by his response, that he would lie to Congress again after he had already lied about the viral gain-of-function question that I asked him earlier.”
Marshall has requested Fauci hand over unredacted copies of his financial records to his office by Friday.
Following Tuesday’s exchange, multiple non-profit organizations confirmed that while Fauci’s 2019 financial disclosures are public, they are difficult to obtain.
In May 2020, the Center of Public Integrity requested the disclosures and did not receive them until early August. In order to get the documents, a reporter emailed the Department of Health and Human Services and then the NIH’s Freedom of Information Act Office with the correct completed form. After a month, the organization “politely badgered the NIH office via email.”
The organization said it had requested Fauci’s 2020 financial disclosures this week.