ABC News fuels Fauci's claims about Sen. Rand Paul's attacks against him are responsible for ongoing threats

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Media top headlines January 12

In media news today, Ted Cruz slams a podium after a reporter asked a question about masks, a Washington Post columnist says it’s time to make life a ‘living hell’ for the unvaccinated, and USA Today gets torched for promoting a ‘complicated’ study on pedophilia.

ABC News appeared to have taken the side of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who accused Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. fueling the ongoing threats against him. 

During the Senate hearing on Tuesday, Fauci sparred with the Republican, who blasted the top health official for targeting scientists who opposed the Biden administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. 

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Fauci not only dismissed Paul's charges as "completely untrue" but lobbed his own accusations against the lawmaker, saying his attacks "kindles the crazies out there," which the NIAID director directly linked to "threats upon my life, harassment of my family and my children… because people are lying about me." He also swiped Paul for fundraising off of his attacks on Fauci on his campaign website that calls for the Biden official's firing.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House Chief Medical Advisor and Director of the NIAID, gives and opening statement during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to examine the federal response to Covid-19 and new emerging variants on January 11, 2022 at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.  ___ Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022. The hearing is titled "Addressing New Variants: A Federal Perspective on the COVID-19 Response."  (Photo by GREG NASH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images  |   Photographer: Greg Nash/The Hill/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

On Tuesday's "World News Tonight," ABC News offered an extensive report about the heated exchange, which was unabashedly slanted in favor of the medical bureaucrat. 

"There was also an unexpected and very heated moment today on the Hill, Dr. Fauci talking about the threats against his family describing them, the man stopped in Iowa and what that man told authorities," ABC News anchor David Muir told viewers. "And today when Kentucky Senator Rand Paul accused Dr. Fauci of trying to destroy the reputation of other scientists who disagree with him, Dr. Fauci is saying that kind of misinformation has led to threats on his life and his family."

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Mary Bruce, ABC News' senior White House correspondent, kicked off her report saying that Fauci was "fed up" with Sen. Paul, "saying his repeated and false attacks are putting Fauci's life at risk."

Bruce then detailed the arrest of a California man armed with an AR-15 who alleged he was heading to Washington D.C. to kill Fauci among others. 

"As the public face of the pandemic response, Fauci has become a frequent target," Bruce reported. "He's previously described a terrifying experience opening an anonymous letter delivered to his office, only to be covered in a cloud of white powder he thought might have been a deadly substance. It was later found not to be hazardous."  

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"Fauci today accusing the Republican senator of spreading dangerous lies for his own political gain," Bruce added.

While concluding her report, Bruce acknowledged Paul "disputed Fauci's claims" but added "the senator is already trying to fundraise off of this heated exchange with Dr. Fauci."

Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House Chief Medical Advisor and Director of the NIAID, participates in the White House COVID-19 Response Team's regular call with the National Governors Association in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House Campus, Monday, Dec. 27, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)  (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Kelley Paul, wife of Sen. Paul, fired back at Fauci for "whining" about threats while being grilled by the Kentucy senator. 

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"Dr. Fauci, instead of explaining why you conspired to do a "devastating public takedown" of Stanford/Harvard epidemiologists, you whined about threats… when you’ve been shot at, assaulted/seriously injured, had fake anthrax sent, and been mobbed and spit on… get back to me," Paul tweeted.