Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) took aim at Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico on Wednesday after an old social media post resurfaced showing Talarico celebrating a Dr. Anthony Fauci action figure — the same day Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times before a Senate committee.
Gill highlighted a December 2021 post from Talarico, who was serving as a Texas state representative at the time. In it, Talarico displayed a masked Fauci figurine he said he had received as a Christmas gift.
“Do you think James Talarico still plays with his Fauci action figure?” Gill wrote on X.
Talarico’s original post praised the figure while encouraging people to get vaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I got the coolest action figure for Christmas! Thank you to all the health care superheroes working today,” Talarico wrote. “Let’s help by getting vaxxed and boosted!”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) joined the criticism, connecting Talarico’s old praise of Fauci to Fauci’s refusal to answer questions from lawmakers.
“James Talarico called Fauci a superhero. Today, Fauci took the Fifth 111 times,” Cruz wrote. “Apparently accountability was sold separately.”
The posts from Gill and Cruz came as Fauci appeared Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, where he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times. Fauci said he acted on the advice of his attorneys and accused committee chairman Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) of pursuing an “unhinged” campaign to prosecute him.
Paul said the committee will vote next week on holding Fauci in contempt of Congress.
Talarico is a former middle school teacher and Presbyterian seminarian. He is running against Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Talarico drew scrutiny this month over a separate video. In it, he described legislation restricting gender-affirming care for minors as stemming from a “Christofascism movement.”
Paul said Fauci’s presidential pardon may not shield him from the contempt referral.
