Fox News host Neil Cavuto defended National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases head Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday on his show “Your World,” saying he was a good man at his core.

Referencing a heated exchange between Fauci and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) during a Tuesday Senate hearing, Cavuto said, “I’m not going to replay the bites from earlier today. I think it turned to a circus. But this pile-on on Dr. Fauci, what he knew, when he knew it, whether he had sinister plans and was putting a hoodwink on us. I thought he was thinking in real-time. Didn’t have a handle on stuff. Following it as you were at the time, others. Do you think this pile-on is fair?”

Dr. Bob Lahita said, “No, I don’t, Neil. I don’t think the pile-on is fair. Because I know Dr. Fauci is a very professional man. He’s been the director of the NIAID for years and years and years. I used to work at the NIH reviewing grants, and I remember Dr. Fauci’s guidance. He’s been around since Moses parted the Red Sea. He is a very ethical, prudent individual. So I trust him.”

Cavuto joked, “I think he was providing medical advice for Moses.”

Lahita said, “Probably so.”

Cavuto said, “I kid there, but the bigger point, he has been vilified to the point that you’d think he was Lex Luthor. I don’t know how productive that is. What might have been missed and the source of all of this, I get that. But to make him the target of attacks, I think that a lot of this has to go back to his departure from former President Donald Trump at the time. But whatever is behind it, I don’t see it being constructive.”

Lahita said, “I agree with you. I remember Tony Fauci back when George H.W. Bush was president. I believe that was Bush 41. He was a point of light in the country. Remember Bush’s thousand points of light? Tony was very, very prominent at that time and very good leader in the biomedical research community. He’s an excellent individual, an excellent doctor. I have known him as a physician for, I guess, it’s been about 40 years or more. And so I think it’s unfortunate that we have to attack an individual who has such an important role in our society.”

Cavuto concluded, “At his core, he’s a good man, a good doctor. We all have to step back, take the chill down.”

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