Fauci Denies Cover-Up on Origin of COVID

Dr. Anthony Fauci faced a grilling from Republican lawmakers Monday in his first public testimony since he retired as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in late 2022. At the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic hearing, Fauci denied attempting to cover up the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic and said some allegations were "simply preposterous," the Washington Post reports. Fauci testified before the panel for 14 hours over two days in a closed-door hearing in January.

• "Americans were aggressively bullied, shamed and silenced for merely questioning or debating issues such as social distancing, masks, vaccines or the origins of COVID," the panel's chairman, GOP Rep. Brad Wenstrup, said in his opening remarks, per ABC News.
• Fauci, in his opening remarks, denied trying to suppress the theory that the pandemic started with a leak from a lab in China instead of a natural jump of the virus from animals to people, Fox News reports. "I have repeatedly stated that I have a completely open mind to either possibility and that if definitive evidence becomes available to validate or refute either theory, I will readily accept it," he said. Fauci said it was "simply preposterous" to allege that he had bribed scientists with grant money.

• Fauci denied trying to conceal records and denounced the actions of a colleague who discussed ways to evade public records laws, the AP reports. "To the best of my knowledge I have never conducted official business via my personal email," he said.
• Fauci said he supports the suspension and debarment of EcoHealth Alliance, a research group accused of carrying out risky experiments at Wuhan Institute of Virology and failing to properly monitor research. He said he was certain that "viruses that were funded by the NIH, phylogenetically, could not be the precursor of SARS-CoV-2," per CBS News.
• GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was reprimanded by Wenstrup after she refused to refer to the witness as "Dr. Fauci," the Hill reports. She went on to tell Fauci that he should be prosecuted for "crimes against humanity."
• The Post reports that the COVID panel has "often struggled for attention," but the appearance of Fauci brought a "circus-like" atmosphere to the hearing, with some spectators wearing anti-Fauci T-shirts.

• Fauci was also grilled on aspects of the government's COVID response, including the 6-foot distancing rule. "It actually came from the CDC," he said. "The CDC was responsible for those kinds of guidelines to schools, not me." The Post reports that Republicans, unsatisfied with the answer, wanted to know why the recommendation wasn't changed when it became clear that the virus could linger in the air.
• Rep. Raul Ruiz, the ranking Democrat for the panel, thanked Fauci for his service and expressed dismay at the "extreme narratives" targeting him, CNN reports. He said evidence showed that "Dr. Fauci did not fund research through the EcoHealth Alliance Grant that caused the COVID-19 pandemic; Dr. Fauci did not lie about gain of function research in Wuhan, China; Dr. Fauci did not orchestrate a campaign to suppress the lab-leak theory."
• ABC reports that Fauci, who has received death threats, became emotional when he spoke about the impact on his family. "It is very troublesome to me," he said. "It is much more troublesome because they've involved my wife and my three daughters."

(More Anthony Fauci stories.)