Michelle Fiscus
A Tennessee vaccine official who ran to CNN and claimed someone mailed her a dog muzzle to intimidate her actually purchased it herself, an investigation found.
Dr. Michelle Fiscus was at the center of a nasty political battle after she advocated for vaccination of some teenagers against Covid without parental consent.
Fiscus said she received an anonymous package from Amazon containing a dog muzzle (photo below) one week before she was fired from the Tennessee Department of Health in July.
Michelle’s husband Brad told the Tennessean that his wife wanted to keep the muzzle as a souvenir.
“A friend dropped it back by the house. She wanted it as a souvenir,” Brad Fiscus said. “She said, ‘whoever sent that must not know me very well. That’s for a beagle, but I’m a pit bull.'”
dog muzzle sent to Michelle Fiscus
“Someone wanted to send a message to tell her to stop talking, they thought it would be a threat to her,” her husband Brad Fiscus told the Tennessean.
A state investigation conducted at Michelle Fiscus’ request revealed the fired vaccine chief actually purchased the muzzle herself!
Axios reported:
A Tennessee investigation found evidence that the state’s fired vaccine chief, Michelle Fiscus, purchased a dog muzzle that she previously claimed someone had mailed in an attempt to intimidate her.
Details: The Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security found through a subpoena that the Amazon package containing the muzzle traced back to a credit card in Fiscus’ name, according to an investigation report obtained by Axios.
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When asked by investigators, Fiscus provided information for an Amazon account in her name. It was a different account than the one used to purchase the muzzle.
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The investigation concluded that “the results of this investigation that purchases from both Amazon accounts were charged to the same American Express credit card in the name of Dr. Michelle D. Fiscus.”
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Fiscus told investigators she felt the muzzle was a threat and she should “stop talking about vaccinating people.” The investigation was launched after health department official Paul Peterson alerted the Department of Safety about the apparent threat to Fiscus.
Michelle Fiscus insisted she didn’t send the dog muzzle to herself in a tweet on Monday.
Regarding the muzzle: I ASKED Homeland Security to investigate the origin. Just provided a redacted HS report by Axios Nashville. Report says a second account was made under my name from a phone in WA? Waiting on unredacted report. Hold tight. No, I didn’t send it to myself.
— Michelle Fiscus MD,FAAP (@drfixus) August 16, 2021
