The hearing of Dr. Anthony Fauci before the Senate committee brought back many of the COVID-19 conspiracy theories that first surfaced during the 85-year-old’s tenure as Medical Advisor to the President from 2021 to 2022.
Event Context
It was also inevitable that two of the US far-right’s favorite characters for conspiracy theories: Bill Gates and China, found a way into the hearing, thanks to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chair, Sen. Rand Paul. Dr Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer the question – a stance he repeated 111 times throughout the hearing. He did the same with questions surrounding China and Bill Gates’ role in the COVID-19 research, but it sparked a lot of buzz on social media.
Also read: Why is Anthony Fauci testifying before Congress? All you need to know about Rand Paul hearing
Dr. Anthony Fauci was grilled extensively by Senators Rand Paul (R-Ky) and Rick Scott (R-Fl) on whether Bill Gates partnered with China on “sensitive” COVID-19-related research. Paul questioned Dr. Fauci on the alleged Q-level clearance given to Bill Gates. Q-level clearance is a top-secret Department of Energy (DOE) security authorization which gives individuals access to key nuclear secrets.
Sen. Scott, meanwhile, threw off a series of 23 questions at Dr. Anthony Fauci, many of which were related to Bill Gates’ role in “sensitive” COVID-19 research.
“To your knowledge, did [Bill Gates] partner with China on sensitive research?” Scott asked Fauci. “Specifically, did Bill use research such as countermeasures or gain of function?”
Dr. Anthony Fauci used the Fifth to dodge all the questions. But they sparked a lot of buzz on social media.
Also read: Fauci invokes the Fifth Amendment, declines to testify in GOP-led Senate panel’s COVID-19 hearing
Even though Dr. Anthony Fauci refused to answer the questions around Bill Gates and China, they erupted on social media. Videos from the live broadcast were clipped and shared and they instantly went viral. Amid Dr. Fauci’s silence, they snowballed on social media into more theories and speculations.
Match Outlook
“Bill Gates has a security clearance? He was just drawn into the Fauci investigation narrative. It’s all going to be exposed,” wrote one.
“Sounds like the next subpoena will be for Bill Gates,” wrote another, sharing a video of Senator Rick Scott’s questions.
“Why would Bill Gates need nuclear clearance? Q clearance is a U.S. Department of Energy security clearance required to access Top Secret Restricted Data, including nuclear weapons information,” added one.
“This physically hurts me to say. It is so ingrained in me not to. It’s so classified it makes me physically ill to post this. Bill Gates had a Q-Clearance. This gave him direct access to ‘special nuclear material.’ This includes Enriched Uranium,” added another.
