Using an anonymous email account based in Switzerland, Thomas Patrick Connally, Jr. threatened to kill Fauci or members of his family, the US Department of Justice said in a press release. One of Connally’s messages said the health worker would be “dragged into the street, beaten to death and set on fire.”
Another email said Fauci would be “hunted down, captured, tortured and killed,” according to court records.
Fauci is the chief medical adviser to US President Joe Biden and director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the US National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.
He has been a staunch supporter of vaccines and other preventive measures against COVID-19 and has said he expects to retire at the end of Biden’s current term.
Another person targeted was Dr. Francis Collins, who was director of the NIH at the time of Connally’s threats. Collins and his family were threatened with physical assault and death if he continued to speak out about the need for “mandatory” vaccinations against COVID-19, the Justice Department said.
No right to make threats, DA says
Connally also admitted to sending threatening emails to Dr. Rachel Levine, then Pennsylvania’s secretary of health, said the Justice Department. An unidentified public health official in Massachusetts and a religious leader in New Jersey were also threatened. “Everyone has the right to disagree, but you don’t have the right to threaten the life of a federal official,” Eric L. Barron, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, said in a statement. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Connally to 37 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Connally recently lived in Snowshoe, W.Va. He was arrested last summer and pleaded guilty in May to making threats against a federal official.
