Louisiana Attorney General Alleges Fauci and Big Tech Part of Push to Censor Americans’ Speech

President Joe Biden (C) signs executive orders as part of the Covid-19 response as Vice President Kamala Harris (L) and Director of NIAID Dr. Anthony Fauci (R) look on in the White House in Washington on Jan. 21, 2021. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and Missouri’s Attorney General Eric Schmitt in May sued Anthony Fauci, the Biden administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the FBI, alleging they censored American’s free speech on social media platforms.

Pointedly, Landry stated in an interview that aired on Newsmakers by NTD and The Epoch Times on Nov. 30, that “basically, when Anthony Fauci spoke, Americans were censored by Big Tech.”

Landry added that thanks to the First Amendment, the U.S. government is prohibited from censoring people’s speech. He said that same amendment also prevents the government from telling companies to censor speech on their behalf.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry (C) speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Jan. 22, 2020. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

But that’s what happened during COVID-19, Landry alleged.

“If the government cannot censor my speech, the government cannot also entice a private actor to censor that speech as well. They can’t go in and put someone in the editorial rooms of major media outlets and tell them what to say on the news. But that’s exactly what we believe they did and engaged in.”

Landry further alleged that government cooperation isn’t limited to the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s instead happening in many instances and gave the example of what he claimed was a media and government cover up of the Hunter Biden laptop story.

Advice Essentially Law

Landry’s lawsuit against the U.S. government is still in the discovery phase. As such, Landry recently deposed Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), because Fauci’s medical advice was essentially law during the pandemic.

Without giving the exact details of the deposition, Landry affirmed that during questioning, Fauci claimed he couldn’t recall key details about his actions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Landry said they presented Fauci with his emails and directives he signed off on, but he still claimed ignorance.

Landry also said during the deposition that lawyers covered everything from the origins of COVID-19 through Fauci’s response. They even went so far as to question the details surrounding using therapeutics like ivermectin.

The logos of Big Tech companies Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google, in file photos. Reuters

When asked if Landry believed Fauci couldn’t honestly recall critical details or was taking a page out of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s playbook and trying to rewrite history, Landry smirked but deferred from accusing Fauci of lying.

However, he stated, “I can tell you this; this lawsuit is not going away. We intend to take this to trial.”

Landry added that he filed a lawsuit after the DHS established a Disinformation Governance Board (DGB).

In June, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released a letter he sent to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The letter stated that despite DHS claims to the contrary, “documents show that the DGB was designed to be the department’s central hub, clearinghouse, and gatekeeper for administration policy and response to whatever it happened to decide was ‘disinformation.’”

Landry stated that the government’s attempt to establish the DGB is a perfect example of what’s going wrong in America.

“This is where the government is going out there and censoring Americans’ ability to speak to one another on social platforms. [The U.S. government is] utilizing the social platform in a way to manipulate the American public into a one-size fits all policy.”

Biggest First Amendment Lawsuit

Moving to what might happen with Republicans taking back control of the U.S. House of Representatives—and their promise to hold Fauci accountable for his actions—Landry said he can only imagine what’ll happen once Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) gets ahold of Fauci’s deposition transcript.

Landry added about Jordan’s probability of subpoenaing Fauci, “It’ll be interesting to see if [Fauci] can’t recall [key details] there as well.”

Landry continued, “This is going to be a continual unfolding of one of the biggest collusions between the government and Big Tech to again censor America’s speech.”

Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson (L), John Adams (C), and Benjamin Franklin (R). Public domain

Furthermore, Landry emphasized that people like himself are pursuing this lawsuit so vigorously because if the government gets away with its censorship, Americans will no longer live in a free society.

“Our founders knew that in order to create a free society, to really have a free nation under which people are free, they had to be able to speak their piece. And they had to be able to do so in the public square, without the interference of government telling them what they could or could not say, or what they could or could not hear.”

Consequently, Landry stated, his is one of the most significant First Amendment cases in modern times.

Fauci’s Defense

As part of its reporting, The Epoch Times reached out to Fauci, asking for his response to Landry’s claims about his inability to recall key details. The Epoch Times also asked if Fauci would like to say anything in his defense. He didn’t respond by the time of publication.

Still, Fauci has defended himself to other outlets by stating that his COVID-19 response—and any missteps he took in the beginning—were due to changing information as COVID-19 progressed.

NIAID director, Dr. Anthony Fauci, pauses during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 26, 2021. Stefani Reynolds/Pool/Getty Images

In an interview that aired on ABC News, Fauci stated about the criticism he’s received, “It got political very, very quickly.

“Because we had the misfortune of an outbreak, and a double misfortune of an outbreak in a divided society, and the triple misfortune of a divided society in an election year. I mean, you couldn’t get more—getting the cards stacked against you, than right there. It was a triple whammy.”

Of his decisions during COVID-19 and if he had it to do over, Fauci said, “If I had to do it over again, I would have analyzed it a little bit better.”