Fox Business, a network not widely known for challenging Republican or MAGA figures on factual claims during live broadcasts, surprised viewers this week when an anchor immediately pushed back on a statement from Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) about Dr. Anthony Fauci.

On Wednesday, Senate Republicans had intended to press Fauci on alleged inconsistencies, armed with thousands of pages of his private pandemic diaries. However, Fauci, the former longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who led the U.S. infectious disease response through multiple administrations, invoked his Fifth Amendment right and declined to answer questions during his appearance before the committee chaired by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). The hearing proved to be a disappointment for Paul and fellow Republicans.

Paul indicated during the hearing that he plans to hold a committee vote next week to declare Fauci in contempt of Congress. Other Republicans expressed their frustration to reporters afterward.

"He put this country in a tailspin," Tuberville told Fox Business. "He almost bankrupted our country worth what they did. Between Obama and Biden this guy get's 'Weasel of the Year' award."

Tuberville went further, vowing that Fauci would "eventually end up broke or in prison [because] I'm eventually gonna be governor of Alabama … and we're gonna sue the heck out of this guy." Tuberville, currently in his first Senate term, has publicly signaled interest in running for Alabama governor.

"He's going to court everyday of his life for the rest of his life … because the pardon doesn't cover state government. And we're gonna go after him with everything we got because the guy killed or had something to do with the killing of 9 million people."

The figure Tuberville cited far exceeds even global COVID-19 death estimates. The World Health Organization has put worldwide COVID-19 deaths at roughly 7 million, while the U.S. domestic death toll stands at approximately 1.2 million.

"Yeah, we can't prove that," the Fox Business anchor immediately countered. "That's yet to be determined how many people are due to that."

"Oh, yeah. We can determine it," Tuberville insisted. "… He was the guy that funded this."

"You said you can determine it. We understand that. We understand that you want to move to do that," the host responded.

"Just another day on Capitol Hill," said reporter Jamie Dupree on X.

Another critic wrote: "9 MILLION?! The official Covid-19 death toll stands at ~1,123,000."

"This is such an utterly insane thing to say," said another. "This has gotten way out of hand. Trump should honestly speak up for Fauci at this point if he has any goodness in him whatsoever."

Other commentators noted that the Fox anchor's on-the-spot fact-check likely stemmed from the network having lost costly lawsuits over past falsehoods.

"Thank God Fox News has lost a few very expensive lawsuits recently, otherwise you know damn well her response would be more along the lines of 'and some say it's even double that,'" a critic said on X.