On Monday, Dr. Anthony Fauci — who last week told Politico he would retire before the end of President Joe Biden's current term and then the next day told The Hill he's not going to retire before the end of Biden's current term — claimed that he “didn’t recommend locking anything down” when asked if he would still recommend locking down schools if he could go back to the beginning of the pandemic, on The Hill’s “Rising” show.

\u201cHe\u2019s unashamed and unrepentant, but he knows the shutdowns were a catastrophic mistake, so he\u2019s trying to rewrite history.\u201d

— Thomas Massie (@Thomas Massie) 1658850921

Unfortunately for Fauci, a video clip of his statement Monday, next to a video clip from October 2020 in which he brags, "I recommended to the president that we shut the country down," is making the rounds on social media.

\u201c@MaryJohanna6 @townhallcom He's been wrong on everything he's done since AIDS. No one should've ever trusted him.\u201d

— Townhall.com (@Townhall.com) 1658847427

\u201c@NMBehm15 @RepThomasMassie I teach elementary school children, and I have witnessed first hand the devastating effects of the lockdowns and remote learning. This fall\u2019s 3rd graders who were kindergarteners in 2020 and missed their entire 4th quarter are horribly delayed academically and developmentally.\u201d

— Thomas Massie (@Thomas Massie) 1658850921

\u201c@townhallcom \u201cEvery record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. History has stopped.\u201d -1984\u201d

— Townhall.com (@Townhall.com) 1658847427

\u201c@TimHespe @townhallcom True this\u201d

— Townhall.com (@Townhall.com) 1658847427

On “The Rubin Report” Tuesday, BlazeTV host Dave Rubin talked about Fauci’s inability to justify mask and vaccine mandates during a Fox News interview with Bret Baier.

"As you mentioned, [President Joe Biden] is twice vaccinated, twice boosted, and still got infected. The message over the past couple of days, really the past couple of months, is that 'listen, everybody's going to get this,'" Baier said to Fauci. "If that's the case, why are there any mandates anymore for vaccines or masks or anything?"

"Well, you have to look at it in several different pillars, Bret, when you talk about the fact that inevitably if people have to function out in society, given the high degree of transmissibility of this virus, it is going to infect someone who doesn't have a high degree of protection," answered Fauci.

"Okay, so Fauci just says nothing," Dave responded. "I mean, he just says nothing. Yes, we all accept that COVID exists. We all accept that the flu exists. We all accept that every now and again you twist your ankle. Does the government have any right to mandate you to do anything? The answer to that is no."

Watch the video clip below. Can't watch? Download the podcast here.

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