On Wednesday, July 29, 2026, Senator Bernie Moreno confronted Dr. Anthony Fauci during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, sharply criticizing Fauci's pandemic policies and their effects on Americans.

Moreno recounted the story of a mother in Ohio who was tased and arrested for not wearing a mask while attending her son's football game outdoors. The mother faced charges including criminal trespass, resisting arrest, and obstructing official business despite being outside and socially distanced from others.

Moreno blamed the policies on "moronic politicians" who followed Fauci's advice, calling Fauci a "megalomaniac" more interested in celebrity encounters than the suffering of the American people. He said, "Your advice to communities like that, to idiotic politicians who enforced those rules, arrested that mom for watching a football game with her family outside."

The senator said hearing this story motivated him to run for the Senate and addressed Fauci directly: "Here I am, sitting in front of you six years later saying, who the f*ck do you think you were for doing that?" He added that Fauci's actions were a "total disgrace" to the country and stated, "There is no defense of what you did. You may have had a 50-plus-year legacy of public service, but it ends in total and complete disgrace."

Fauci repeatedly declined to answer questions, citing his rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.

Moreno also asked Fauci if he would apologize to military members discharged for refusing the vaccine, Americans who lost businesses due to policy recommendations, mothers who had to force infants to wear masks, and families of those who died after following vaccine guidance.

Sources