NEW YORK (NewsNation Now) — Megyn Kelly says Dr. Anthony Fauci is “not our daddy” and his alleged “noble lies” contribute to the lack of trust in vaccines.

“I think the deterioration in trust in the media and public health and Fauci telling us one thing only to for us to find out weeks or months later that it was 100% untrue, an actual lie, he might argue a noble lie — I think a lot of the public disagrees — leads bit by bit to an erosion of trust,” Kelly said.

Kelly, an attorney and host of “The Megyn Kelly Show,” joined “Dan Abrams Live” to discuss federal vaccine mandates, which she opposes despite being vaccinated herself.

“When that same man turns around and says, ‘I mandate, I insist that you inject yourself with this vaccine,’ which is new, which is relatively untested, if you look at the history of other vaccines that have been around a lot longer, they’re feeling hinky about it. They don’t trust him and then they don’t trust the media that’s responsible for telling us whether it’s safe or not.”

Fauci does not have the authority to mandate vaccines, though he has been supportive of the Biden administration’s plan to do so. A Biden executive order compelled the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, to draft a rule that would require businesses with at least 100 employees to require all employees be vaccinated or regularly tested.

Abrams challenged Kelly on her claims about Fauci, arguing the only thing Fauci said that was “clearly objectively untrue” was in March 2020, when he said masks were not necessary. Fauci later explained that he was trying to prevent a run on medical masks so they would be available for health care workers.

“Unacceptable; that’s not OK,” Kelly said. “He’s not our daddy.”

Kelly also believes Fauci is not being honest about herd immunity and funding gain-of-function research. That is when scientists change a virus in a lab to study its effects. Sometimes, this research involves making the virus stronger or more dangerous, but the National Institutes of Health’s website says that’s not always the case.

“I don’t think he’s an honest broker,” Kelly said.

Abrams fired back, saying, “There is no evidence that United States paid for any research on gain-of-function after there was a pause in 2014 on that kind of research.”

Kelley believes there is a case to be made.

“If he is that dishonest and he funded that research, that actually somehow was connected to the launch of this virus, he’s got a lot to cover, and we should not be trusting him and he should not be in a position of authority,” Kelly said.

Abrams says Fauci lost credibility with his mask comment, but doesn’t believe his intentions are bad.

As for the federal vaccine mandates, Kelly does not think they will sail through the courts.

Even if Congress does have the power, she says to get the mandate quickly done, the Biden administration has to reach an emergency standard that she believes has not been met.

OSHA has to issue an “emergency temporary standard” to expedite the mandate process. To do that, it must determine workers are in “grave danger.” Typically, it takes the administration an average of more than seven years to develop and issue safety and health standards, according to a 2012 report by the Government Accountability Office.

“Delta had been around for a while,” Kelly said. “COVID had been around for a long while, and I just don’t think they’re going to pass that very stringent test.”

“The Megyn Kelly Show” airs at noon ET on the Triumph channel at Sirius XM.

Watch “Dan Abrams Live” weeknights at 8/7c.

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