Top TV AM and PM Shows SILENT on Pregnancy Findings From Fauci’s Pandemic Phone

On Monday, Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Ron Johnson (R-WI) delivered an initial batch of texts after last week’s announcement the subcommittee had obtained a copy of Dr. Tony Fauci’s government-issued iPhone from the COVID-19 pandemic. Senators had hoped they would bring more bombshell revelations on top of the July 25 release of his pandemic-era diary, but the elitist, liberal networks weren’t interested.

In turn, Johnson’s revelations about Fauci’s private thoughts about the risks facing pregnant women with the Covid vaccine were ignored by the “Big Three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC on their flagship Monday evening or Tuesday morning newscasts.

Johnson shared his subcommittee found “more than 34,000 text messages and 522 voice mails,” including this stunning text from January 2021 about the COVID vaccine that Johnson said “could have an immediate impact of public health and the principle of informed consent”:

Based on this text message that was part of a chain between Fauci, then-CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, and then-Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, Johnson put together a timeline to illustrate how the three (and their subordinates) were saying one thing in public, and another in private.

Eight days later, Fauci said on a livestream with a medical journal that the FDA had “found thus far and we have to be careful but thus far no red flags about that, about pregnant women.”

Here was how the great Stephen Dinan at The Washington Times summarized the findings (click “expand”):

Dr. Anthony Fauci privately acknowledged a potential risk of miscarriage if pregnant women took a COVID vaccine in the first trimester, even as he and the rest of the federal government were urging them to get the shots, according to messages from his phone.

The messages were released by two Republican senators leading the GOP’s probe of Dr. Fauci and his handling of the coronavirus. The senators obtained a copy of Dr. Fauci’s phone from the Health and Human Services Department, where he spent decades as head of the infectious diseases division at the National Institutes of Health.

(....)

It seems to build on a narrative that Dr. Fauci shaped public information to achieve his goals, even if it meant hiding or downplaying medical facts.

Dinan did note that, “[i]n the five years since the mRNA vaccines were deployed, government officials say fears about pregnant women haven’t been borne out.”

Meanwhile, cable put the networks to shame with a litany of mentions from Monday to Tuesday morning on the Fox News Channel, the Fox Business Network, Newsmax, Newsmax2, NewsNation, and even CNN.

Worse yet, the networks have proven they were aware of the story, but refused to mention it.

On Tuesday, ABC’s overnight program Good Morning America First Look had a 34-second news brief from co-host Sophie Flay (click “expand”):

Two Republican senators have released text messages from Doctor Anthony Fauci regarding what he said years ago about the safety of the COVID vaccine for pregnant women. Back in early 2021, the messages between Fauci and members of the Biden administration were allegedly written. Fauci is quoted saying there was a theoretical risk the vaccine could lead to a dangerous immune response. A short time later, he said, the FDA had found no red flags. The senators, who’ve long criticized Fauci's handling of the pandemic, say they’re now reviewing more messages from Fauci’s phone. The vaccine ended up being approved after studies showed it was safe.

CBS News was also aware of it as they penned a story at CBSNews.com with its takeaways of the Fauci texts.

A few hours later, after the flagship newscasts aired, streaming platforms ABC News Live and CBS News 24/7 had news briefs on the Fauci texts about pregnant women and the Covid vaccine:

DIANE MACEDO [on ABC News Live]: And Republican senators are releasing old texts from Doctor Fauci about pregnancy and Covid vaccines. Senators Rand Paul and Ron Johnson released a 2021 text conversation allegedly between Fauci and public health officials about the Covid vaccine’s unfounded link to miscarriages in pregnant women. Fauci referred to a theoretical risk of an exaggerated immune response if given during pregnancy, but noted that studies were ongoing. Large studies have found no such link and affirmed that Covid-19 vaccines are safe to be given during pregnancy.

(....)

MUGO ODIGWE [on CBS News 24/7]: Republican senators have released text messages about the pandemic from Dr. Anthony Fauci's government-issued phone, and the messages from 2021 capture a discussion weighing the potential risks and benefits of pregnant women taking Covid-19 vaccines. Seven months after that exchange, the CDC explicitly recommended that pregnant women get vaccinated. Senators Rand Paul and Ron Johnson released 11 of more than 34,000 texts recovered from Fauci's old phone, and last week, a panel they both sit on voted to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress after he invoked the Fifth Amendment during a Senate hearing in July.

Instead, the elitist networks had other priorities for their lead shows. For example, ABC’s Good Morning America fizzed away two minutes and 52 seconds in Tuesday’s first hour, taste-testing both a series of new mixed drinks coming to McDonald’s and a new “reformulation” of 7-Up. Here was a portion of that:

Worse yet, GMA, CBS Mornings, and NBC’s Today combined Tuesday for seven minutes and 24 seconds, trumpeting the initial slate of NBA games set to air this season on ABC, Amazon’s Prime Video, ESPN, NBC, and Peacock.

On Monday, ABC’s World News Tonight wasted time hyping what was then a Powerball jackpot of $905 million, the CBS Evening News noted residents of a U.K. town sought refuge from an impending gas explosion in their neighborhood pub, and NBC Nightly News covered viral video of a Brazilian soccer player falling into an uncovered stairway just off the pitch: 

Leaving aside all of those examples of what the networks covered instead, they showed they were aware that Senator Johnson’s subcommittee had obtained the texts.

The August 6 CBS Mornings and CBS Evening News combined for 37 seconds with correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns and Saturday Morning co-host Kelly O’Grady telling viewers the GOP “will continue to investigate Fauci” by combing through “a copy of the phone Fauci used during the pandemic,” which led to him “becom[ing] a controversial figure, especially on the right.” 

The same was true with the little-watched, overnight programs of ABC, CBS, and NBC, as each mentioned last Thursday and Friday that the Senate subcommittee had retrieved a copy of Fauci’s phone. In NBC’s case, they even took it to one of the shows on their free, ad-supported news channel, NBC News NOW:

But when it came time to actually share with the American people another maddening example of Fauci’s rancorous penchant for saying one thing in public versus another in private, the “Big Three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC have thus far failed to bring themselves to level set with viewers.

To see the relevant transcripts, click here (for August 6 and 7) and here (for August 11).