Video of Anthony Fauci Laughing Off Calls for His Prosecution Viewed Over 1M Times

White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci laughing at the idea that he should be prosecuted has gone viral with viewers watching the video over 1.4 million times on Twitter page Breaking 911.

In the Sunday interview with Margaret Brennan on her show, Face the Nation, Fauci was asked to address the animosity felt towards him from some politicians. Brennan questioned why Dr. Fauci wanted to stay on the job despite facing threats for his role in fighting against the coronavirus pandemic. He replied that he was focused on what his duty was to the country and how best he could save lives.

He said: "I dealt with it by focussing on what my job is. From the time that I went into medicine to the right now where I am at my age. My job has been totally focused on doing what I can with the talents and the influence I have to make scientific advances to protect the health of the American public.

"So anybody that spins lies and threatens and all that theatre that goes on with some of their investigations and the congressional committees and all that other nonsense, that's noise, I know what my job is."

Fauci was also asked to address comments from Republican Senator Ted Cruz who called on him to be prosecuted. During a hearing in late October, Cruz accused Fauci of willingly lying to Congress. Cruz questioned whether Fauci had lied regarding whether the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded gain of function research at the Wuhan institute of Virology.

While speaking to Brennan, Fauci turned the question on Cruz and the Capitol riots. He said: "I have to laugh at that. I should be prosecuted? What happened on January 6th senator?"

Fauci was also asked: "Do you think this is about making you a scapegoat to deflect from President Trump.

He said: "Of course, of course, you have to be asleep to not figure that one out."

Brennan reiterated the point that "there are a lot of Republican Senators taking aim" at him. He replied: "That is okay, I'm just going to do my job. I am going to be saving lives and they are going to be lying."

Fauci also said many of the attacks against him were, at the core, criticisms against science. He said: "Anybody who is looking at this carefully realizes there is a distinct anti-science flavor to this.

"If they get up and criticize science nobody is going to know what they are talking about. But if they get up and really aim their bullets at Tony Fauci, well people can recognize there is a person there. It is easy to criticize but they are really criticizing science because I represent science, that is dangerous."

Newsweek has contacted Ted Cruz and the White House for comment.

The U.S. is preparing to combat the latest coronavirus variant of concern, Omicron. Countries around the world, including the U.S., have limited travel from multiple countries in southern Africa, where the variant is thought to have emerged.

Speaking on NBC News' Meet the Press yesterday, Fauci said the U.S. was "preparing to modify the vaccines... but we might not have to."

Regarding dealing with coronavirus cases and variants in the U.S. he said: "What I do think we will be able to do is get a level of control, that it is low enough that it doesn't interfere with our function.

"It doesn't have a major impact on society and what we do. It is not going to go away, the lower we get it the better off we will be. You get it that low when you get the overwhelming majority of the public vaccinated and boosted."