Court Forces Fauci And Jean-Pierre To Answer Questions Under Oath And Produce Documents In Biden-Big Tech Collusion Case
“Plaintiffs are entitled to external communications by Jean-Pierre and Dr. Fauci in their capacities as White House Press Secretary and Chief Medical Advisor to the President to third-party social media platforms.”
We previously covered a lawsuit brought by the states of Missouri and Louisiana against Joe Biden and verious government officials alleging that the Biden administration coerced and colluded with social media giants to censor political opponents of Biden, particularly on issues related to Covid.
The Court granted the states the chance to take testimony and obtain documents, Judge: States Will Get ‘Expedited Discovery’ On Biden Admin Collusion With Big Tech To Censor Conservatives:
There has been much public evidence that the Biden administration has pressured large social media and tech companies to censor political opponents under the guise of designating such speech “disinformation” or “misinformation.”
On May 5, 2022, the states of Missouri and Louisiana filed a Complaint alleging that such collusion violated, among other things, its citizens first amendment rights. The defendants included not only senior administration officials, but also the head of the administrations planned and then disbanded ministry of information, Nina Jankowicz ….
An Amended Complaint (including a tranche of CDC emails as an Exhibit) subsequently was filed, and Great Barrington Declaration Scientists Join Missouri, Louisiana in Lawsuit Against Biden Administration For Censoring Covid Facts.
The emails discovered showed the Biden Admin Colluded With Social Media Platforms to Censor and Suppress Content.
All the while, there were disputes as to what information and documents had to be turned over on this expedited discovery schedule. Today, the Judge ruled that Anthony Fauci and Karine Jean-Pierre had to provide written answers to interrogatories (the answers would be under oath, as well as additional documents.
The Order provided, after reciting the disputes, as follows (emphasis added):
D. White House Defendants
In accordance with the previous expedited discovery order, Plaintiffs served interrogatories and document requests upon White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre5 and upon Dr. Anthony Fauci in his capacity as Chief Medical Advisor to the President. Government Defendants have refused to provide any interrogatory responses or responsive documents,6 maintaining that these would be internal communications that would implicate serious separation of powers concerns, that Plaintiffs are required to exhaust other avenues for the discovery first, and that it would be unduly burdensome and disproportional to the needs of the case.
Plaintiffs maintain they have not served interrogatories, and document requests upon President Biden and do not seek internal communications – only external communications that Dr. Fauci and Jean-Pierre sent to the relevant social media platforms.
First, the requested information is obviously very relevant to Plaintiffs’ claims. Dr. Fauci’s communications would be relevant to Plaintiffs’ allegations in reference to alleged suppression of speech relating to the lab-leak theory of COVID-19’s origin, and to alleged suppression of speech about the efficiency of masks and COVID-19 lockdowns. Jean-Pierre’s communications as White House Press Secretary could be relevant to all of Plaintiffs’ examples.7 Government Defendants are making a blanket assertion of all communications to social media platforms by Dr. Fauci, and Jean-Pierre based upon executive privilege and presidential communications privilege. Plaintiffs concede they are not asking for any internal White House communications, but only external communications between Dr. Fauci and/or Jean-Pierre and third-party social media platforms.
This Court believes Plaintiffs are entitled to external communications by Jean-Pierre and Dr. Fauci in their capacities as White House Press Secretary and Chief Medical Advisor to the President to third-party social media platforms.…
E. HHS and Dr. Fauci as NIAID Director
In addition to being named in his capacity as White House Chief Medical Advisor, Dr. Fauci is also named in his capacity as Director of the NIAID. Interrogatories and document requests have been served upon Dr. Fauci in this capacity….
ii. Dr. Fauci
In responding to expedited discovery requests regarding Dr. Fauci, in his capacity as NIAID Director, Government Defendants shall provide responses to Plaintiffs’ expedited discovery requests by providing answers and responsive documents as to Additional Interrogatory No. 5, Additional Interrogatory No. 6, and to Common Interrogatories 2, 3, and 4, within twenty-one (21) days from the date of this order.
🚨BREAKING: In our lawsuit against the Biden Admin for colluding with social media companies to censor speech, the Court just ordered DOJ to produce records from key WH & HHS officials like Dr. Fauci, the WH Press Secretary, and others.
— Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) September 6, 2022
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Comments
Ouch, discovery and ultimately disclosure of the many shenanigans used to craft and maintain a narrative for political purposes. These folks are gonna spin, twist and run just like cockroaches scurrying when the lights get turned on.
Then exactly nothing will happen to them because the same corrupt pedophile they work for is the same corrupt pedophile the DOJ answers to.
This is a civil action. Where it can be shown that these govt actors used their positions and authority of office to deprive the civil rights of Citizens theses actors are liable under Sec 1983.
One potential outcome could be a CT appointed monitor to review communication between the govt and tech companies. That’s not likely but it does show how serious this could get. Not to mention the potential for damages paid to the people/entities who’s speech was suppressed/censored.
Lawfare, it’s not just for d/prog anymore.
Bleach Bit sales soar!!
Spoilation of evidence would be a tragically bad path for these jacklegs to take. IMO, this trial Judge would be likely to nuke them. We shall see.
Could Fauci be stripped of his government pension, if he is found in court to have colluded to suppressed evidence and silence critics?
About as likely as this DoJ would be to investigate itself for wrongdoing.
Yes, but I was asking strictly from a legal point of view.
Click bait. Look for lots of lost emails, crashed disk drives, etc. Wipe with a cloth?
Different rules.
On paper this seems good.
In reality, I’ll hold my applause. These people simply won’t play by the rules.
Some time in the clink might adjust some attitudes.
Would be nice!
Who will put them there? Even once Republicans take charge, will they have the will to lock up Dems? Would be nice, but Reps historically want to fail at moments like that.
Even if they have the will, Congress has no authority to do so. That’s the DOJ, so all Congress can do is refer charges that will get ignored.
Someone should tell Democrats this.
The will? Uhm… no. They lack what it takes to actually do something.
Except McCarthy. Whose name has been vilified still to this day …
Like the time Eric Holder spent?
Never happen, the DOJ answers to the same corrupt pedophile they serve.
No, they won’t play by the rules. At least not by the rules they’re applying to Trump. At the moment the DoJ is asserting that there’s no such thing as Executive Privilege (among many other flaws in the assertions they are using to publicly make a case their raid on Mar-a-Lago so they could go on a fishing expedition). And in case you miss my point, if they assert that an incumbent President can waive executive privilege for their predecessor and possibly successor President then for all practical purposes there is no such thing as executive privilege. Yet now the WH legal counsel is asserting that they can’t testify about their communications with social media platforms are protected by executive privilege?
“Government Defendants are making a blanket assertion of all communications to social media platforms by Dr. Fauci, and Jean-Pierre based upon executive privilege and presidential communications privilege.”
It seems an odd claim to make. They’re basically admitting that Biden was in on or perhaps behind the campaign to silence and censor conservatives.
Oh, I get your point, my friend.
We live in upside down land.
Get some search warrants and conduct some raids about 6am, seize everything in the residences and offices.
Copy everything before the Feds step in and block the review of documents.
And who is going to do that? The pedophile’s DOJ? Not even maybe.
Don’t forget to use the same techniques used on the peasantry:
1) Smash the door down with a battering ram.
2) Scream obscenities at the wives.
3) Point guns at the children.
4) Kill any and all pets visible.
5) Ransack the house, making sure to smash picture frames and ceramics of any kind.
Don’t forget the TV cameras conveniently stationed nearby.
Well, precedent has been set, but we need some new Untouchables to actually do it.
They never imagined they would get caught, going back to 2016, and now, because they are “truth” in defense of democracy against the fascists, then by any means necessary is justified. DANGEROUS!
Not to mention their elitist solutions are downright stupid or part of a hustle to line their pockets.
Drag the little elf back across the Potomac and force his compliance
If Fauci and Jean-Pierre refuse to comply, what is the judge going to do about it? Ask the corrupt FBI that’s protecting this administration to bring them in?
Indeed. Believe it when you see it and not a second before.
.
I’m waiting for Peter Doucy to ask her to step down if she is too legally compromised to answer questions. Take the fifth and step down. Offering illogical word salads and “I can’t answer that” to so many questions is not a press secretary’s job. Time for her boss, the WH Director of Communications to do her job as well…. or leave.
Need to compel Psaki’s records as well. She was the one centrally involved at the time. Black deflection mouthpiece is a red herring.
I assumed this was one of those cases where Jean-Pierre was a “name in a chair,” like when a new police chief takes office, the titles of all the outstanding lawsuits against the department get changed to have his name on them. I assumed Psaki’s papers were automatically included in this.
I hope the Judge gets the information but I doubt it. I am sure Garland’s DOJ will be too corrupt to find anything even if they do. What would be needed is state people from each state to provide the actual investigations. The issue will be that the Feds will block them from the White House and any Federal Building and system to do that.
That picture looks like “Dewey Defeats Truman”.
British NHS just added horse-dewormer as an anti-‘Rona treatment. There’s a large, peer-reviewed, prospective study out of Brazil last week showing unequivocal positive results from the horse paste. One wonders how many might have been helped, had this been permitted sooner.
In a world where Randy Andy isn’t prosecuted for killing elderly with hsi policies when they knew better. we’re not gonna get The Science Elf for genocide. Maybe we can squelch the book deals and talking head gigs in the pipeline.
Take what we can get.
Check for communications made via unofficial, secret email accounts. We all know that’s an old trick these government na’erdowells use to hide their communications from FOIA and discovery.