Dr. Anthony Fauci in testimony released on Friday complained about how the First Amendment made it more challenging to crack down on speech that was critical of him.

Fauci has faced intense scrutiny for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic and his alleged role in funding gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China through EcoHealth Alliance. Fauci, who was formerly the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), testified to the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic behind closed doors in January, that it’s hard to mitigate the issue of demonization that he and other public officials have faced because of the First Amendment.

“When scientists sometimes want to push back against the misinformation and disinformation that’s out there, almost immediately they wind up getting threats,” Fauci testified in response to a line of questioning on how these threats are discouraging people from joining the public health profession. “I don’t know how that happens, but it happens quickly. It’s clear that when somebody gets up and defends Tony Fauci on social media or what have you, within an hour they get threats themselves.”