A federal judge ordered Dr. Fauci and former White House press secretary Psaki to be deposed for a lawsuit in what some people might call the ‘Biden collusion case.’ In the lawsuit, filed in May by the Republican attorneys general Gen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri and Jeff Landry of Louisiana, US District Judge Terry Doughty granted depositions of Fauci, Psaki and other high-ranking officials, suggesting that it is possible, but not yet proven in a court of law, that government has colluded with social media companies to suppress free speech about controversial topics, the lawsuit alleges.
The case over ‘collusion’ between the Biden administration and social media companies to censor free speech could be damaging to the White House, according to a court order from the Western District of Louisiana.
US District Court Judge Terry Doughty, appointed by Trump, wrote in his 28-page order, “Plaintiffs argue that even if Dr. Fauci can prove he never communicated with social-media platforms about censorship, there are compelling reasons that suggest Dr. Fauci has acted through intermediaries, and acted on behalf of others, in procuring the social-media censorship of credible scientific opinions.”
Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical advisor, was requested to testify about his public statements where he rejected certain theories, said NY Post.
Judge Terry Doughty wrote, “Plaintiffs urge that his comments on these important issues are relevant to the matter at hand and are further reasons why Dr. Fauci should be deposed.”
He added, “Plaintiffs assert that they should not be required to simply accept Dr. Fauci’s ‘self-serving blanket denials’ that were issued from someone other than himself at face value. The Court agrees.”
As part of the lawsuit, Fauci, Psaki and other administration officials – including Surgeon General Vivek Murthy – are slated to testify regarding their communications with various tech companies.
Concerning Psaki, Judge Doughty wrote, “The major platforms have a responsibility related to the health and safety of all Americans to stop amplifying untrustworthy content, disinformation, and misinformation, especially related to [certain] vaccinations, and elections.”
Also, the judge ordered Elvis Chan, the FBI’s San Francisco field office’s cyber branch manager, to be deposed. Doughty’s decision was welcomed by Schmitt, who is seeking to represent Missouri in the U.S. Senate.
In a statement, he said, “After finding documentation of a collusive relationship between the Biden Administration and social media companies to censor free speech, we immediately filed a motion to get these officials under oath.”
“It is high time we shine a light on this censorship enterprise and force these officials to come clean to the American people, and this ruling will allow us to do just that. We’ll keep pressing for the truth,” he continued.
In September, Schmitt commented in Varney & Co. that the trial exposed a “vast enterprise of censorship.” Schmitt said, “What we’ve uncovered so far is at least 45 folks from the Biden administration were in constant communication with these social media platforms to censor and suppress speech, had weekly calls, censorship calls, and these social media platforms were changing terms of service to deplatform folks.”