Ex-CBS reporter claims questioning Fauci got her 'pulled off-air' during COVID pandemic

Former CBS News journalist Brittney Hopper claimed Thursday that she got into trouble after questioning Dr. Anthony Fauci, former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hopper appeared on News24 in Australia to discuss Fauci's decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment right more than 100 times during his congressional hearing Wednesday, refusing to answer any questions.

Before reacting to Fauci's hearing, the independent journalist, who previously worked for CBS News Los Angeles until 2022, gave her own history reporting on Fauci and how he was deified by the mainstream media.

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"I have so much to say because this was during the time when I was on CBS News, I was reporting extensively on COVID," Hopper said. "I was out there on the front lines. And I remember after a couple of years of dealing with hearing this man and interviewing this man, and having to wear masks and having our kids out of school for years, I remember questioning what he was doing. And I got in trouble and pulled off-air for a couple of days because I started questioning him."

She later added, "You weren't supposed to question the agenda and the narrative at that point. And I apologized and I went back on air covering what I was supposed to do as I've mentioned before on here. I was their puppet on mainstream media for so many years. Hopefully, more and more people are waking up to, you know, really, the lack of journalistic integrity that we're seeing."

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Hopper said that she was not shocked by Fauci's response during his hearing but hoped that the "insanity" of him refusing to answer questions opens people's eyes to his lack of knowledge during the pandemic.

"I hope that this is somewhat of a wake-up call for news organizations around the world," Hopper said. "The six feet apart thing that he made up, wearing masks outside with not a single soul around us, you know, there were so many questions that were left unanswered and… let me give him the benefit of the doubt. That first year, many of us – we had no idea what was going on, but then when we started to learn more and more and started to really use journalistic integrity, which maybe that’s just been thrown out the window… news agencies jumped on the bandwagon with him and just feared so many Americans."

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When reached by Fox News Digital, CBS News clarified that Hopper had left the network prior to editor-in-chief Bari Weiss taking over in 2025.

In addition to facing criticism from GOP lawmakers over his hearing performance, Fauci faced renewed scrutiny over excerpts from his private diary, which revealed comments that contradicted his public statements.

For example, despite repeatedly claiming in 2022 that he did not endorse COVID lockdowns, Fauci wrote in several 2020 diary entries about how he recommended lockdowns to city, state and federal officials, including President Donald Trump.