Judge Rules Fauci and White House Press Secretary Have 21 Days to Turn Over Emails with Big Tech

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Dr. Anthony Fauci and the White House Press Secretary to hand over their communications with five social media companies.

The ruling stems from a lawsuit alleging the Biden Administration colluded with Big Tech giants to censor COVID-19 information that didn’t align with the regime’s narrative.

Fauci and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre have 21 days to hand over their communications.

The lawsuit was filed earlier this year by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeffrey Landry alleging the Biden administration colluded with Big Tech firms Twitter, Meta (Facebook’s parent company), YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn to censor certain viewpoints under the guise of preventing the circulation of “misinformation” or “disinformation.”

Eric Schmitt Missouri AG has filed a lawsuit asking Jean-Pierre & Dr. Fauci to turn over emails which were sent to social media companies about misinformation or the censorship of social media content. Those relevant emails must be turned over in 21 days.
https://t.co/udTxUNuAvY

— Rose Stafford (@RoseStaff2012) September 7, 2022

BREAKING
Missouri v Biden (First Amendment case)
Judge rules that, among other things,
“Jean-Pierre and Dr. Fauci shall provide answers to the Plaintiff’s interrogatories and document requests within 21 days from the date of this order”https://t.co/x8J6ivrHDz pic.twitter.com/pXmuufxlcv

— Constituent 🌺⏳🍀✨ (@808constituent) September 7, 2022

The Defender reported:

U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty in July ordered the Biden administration to swiftly produce records requested by the plaintiffs as part of the discovery process.

On Aug. 2, Schmitt and Landry filed discovery requests seeking documents and information from the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and its director, Fauci; White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre; Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy; and former Disinformation Governance Board executive director Nina Jankowicz.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs also sent discovery requests to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and its director, Jen Easterly; the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS); and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The requests resulted in a cache of documents revealing more than 50 Biden administration workers and 12 U.S. agencies had been involved in a censorship push over social media.

However, some government officials — including Fauci — refused to provide records or answer any questions posed by the plaintiffs, claiming the communications were protected under executive privilege.

The government claimed Fauci should not be required to answer the plaintiff’s questions or provide records related to his capacity as NIAID director or related to his capacity as Biden’s chief medical officer. Additionally, the government sought to withhold records and responses from Jean-Pierre.

Judge Doughty on Tuesday broke the stalemate by ruling that both Fauci and Jean-Pierre must comply with the interrogatories and hand over the requested records.

Judge Doughty said in the ruling, “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.”

Judge Doughty added:

“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.”

Read the full ruling HERE.