Republicans cheer as GOP candidate says Fauci should be executed by firing squad

‘I’m not advocating we kill Anthony Fauci… until he’s convicted of his crimes through a court’ says Oklahoma GOP candidate

The chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party received a loud cheer at a campaign event after calling for Anthony Fauci to be “put in front of a firing squad”.

John Bennett, who is also running for Congress, said Dr Fauci should be tried and executed without offering any explanation what for at a campaign stop ahead of his June primary.

Dr Fauci has been subjected to repeated death threats and harassment since becoming the public face of the White House’s Covid pandemic fight, and in 2020 revealed he and his family needed a permanent security detail.

In the clip of the speech which went viral after it was posted to social media by Right Wing Watch, Mr Bennett claimed to be fighting “communist Democrats and establishment RINOS”.

He went on to repeat lies about the 2020 presidential election being stolen.

John Bennett, Oklahoma Republican Party chairman, called for Anthony Fauci to be executed by firing squad (Twitter.com/RightWingWatch)

“We’re fighting against a system that stole the election in 2020 and nobody had been held accountable,” Mr Bennett said.

“We’re in a war with bureaucrats that have forced vaccine mandates on us, mask mandates on us.”

He also claimed “wokeness confusion” was being “pushed down our throats”.

John Bennett, chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party and a current GOP congressional candidate, declares that "we should try Anthony Fauci and put him in front of a firing squad." pic.twitter.com/We2c13LYsk

— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) April 26, 2022

Then he went after the Chief Medical Advisor to the US President, saying: “And by the way, we should try Anthony Fauci and put him in front of a firing squad.”

He added: “And for the Secret Service, if they’re listening, I’m not advocating we kill Anthony Fauci… until he’s convicted of his crimes through a court.”

Mr Bennett has previously likened mask mandates to Star of David patches worn by Jewish people during the Holocaust.

Oklahoma GOP chairman John Bennett and family pose with automatic weapons (John Bennett)

While running for the Oklahoma State House in 2017, the 47-year-old distributed a flyer of himself with his wife and three children holding automatic weapons and wearing matching Stars and Stripes shirts.

He has also previously suggested that Islam is “90 per cent violence”.

Dr Fauci has been a frequent target from Republican lawmakers such as Senator Rand Paul.

In 2021, he described the number of death threats made against him as “extraordinary”.