A former top vaccine official in Tennessee has been found to have used her own credit card to purchase a dog muzzle she received from Amazon and claimed was a threat to intimidate her into silence.

Fox News reports:

A joint state investigation found that a former top Tennessee vaccine official might have mailed herself the same muzzle she claimed last month to have received as a threat to keep quiet, arguing that Republicans had pushed for her firing because she shared factual information with doctors about the legalities of vaccinating un-emancipated minors against COVID-19 without parental consent.

Records now indicate that the muzzle was paid for by Dr. Michelle Fiscus’ own American Express credit card, according to an investigative report from the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security obtained by The Tennessean. In the memo, Special Agent Mario Vigil noted that “there is no evidence to indicate that the dog muzzle was intended to threaten Dr. Fiscus.”

Fiscus denied in a tweet Monday that she sent herself the muzzle, which arrived in an Amazon package.

“Whoever sent that must not know me very well. That’s for a beagle, but I’m a pit bull,'” Fiscus said.

“Perhaps her most egregious offense, the department noted how Fiscus sought to divert state funding to a vaccine nonprofit she founded, representing a severe conflict of interest that raised concerns of alleged fraud,” Fox News adds, saying her firing was “a long time in the making.”

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