Fauci Testimony Raises Questions on COVID Origins and Policy Decisions

Anthony Fauci has completed two days and 14 hours of transcribed testimony on the Coronavirus Pandemic before the Select Subcommittee. The committee is investigating the pandemic’s origins with specific concern regarding the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Wuhan, which was authorized by Dr. Fauci. Questions regarding definitions of “gain of function” as well as lab leak theory were asked. This line of questioning certainly leads the people to question, did America fund virus experiments in Wuhan that led to the years-long COVID-19 pandemic? Dr. Fauci attended the sessions with two personal and two government-provided lawyers.

In a press release following the two days of questioning, Committee Chairman Brad Wenstrup wrote, “After two days of testimony and 14 hours of questioning, many things became evident. During his interview today, Dr. Fauci claimed that the policies and mandates he promoted may, unfortunately, increase vaccine hesitancy for years to come. He testified that the lab leak hypothesis – which was often suppressed – was, in fact, not a conspiracy theory. Further, the social distancing recommendations forced on Americans ‘sort of just appeared’ and were likely not based on scientific data.”

In addition, the report states that Fauci admitted that he advised American universities to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine. This is despite the report by the New York Post that details Fauci’s comments about strict pandemic policies. In April 2023, he said he never shut down a school: “I gave a public health recommendation that echoed the CDC’s recommendation, and people made a decision based on that,” Dr. Fauci said. “But I never criticized the people who had to make the decisions one way or the other.”

In the same report, the New York Post details Fauci’s statement regarding learning loss during pandemic school closures. Committee member Michael Cloud told the Post, “He says he’s still not convinced that there was learning loss, that in his view, that’s still really open for discussion.” Dr. Fauci, a man who touted the importance of following the data and science, is again neglecting the National Center for Education Statistics, which clearly shows a stunning decline in learning outcomes for American schools during pandemic closures.

Another New York Post report from 2022 describes how reading scores declined to the lowest point in 30 years. Math scores “plummeted” for the first time since the data started being collected 50 years ago. This federally gathered data shows the dramatic harm caused to the learning outcomes of America’s children during the authoritarian public policies that Dr. Fauci endorsed. He is still adamant that the data is not convincing.

One of the main takeaways from day one of the interview was Dr. Fauci answering that he “did not recall” to over 100 questions about what the committee determined to be pertinent COVID-19 information. According to the committee’s key takeaways, “he repeatedly played semantics with the definition of gain-of-function in an attempt to avoid conceding that NIH funded this dangerous research.”

In an even more stunning admission, Wenstrup states, “Dr. Fauci testified that he signed off on every foreign and domestic NIAID grant without reviewing the proposals.” This raises concerns regarding sound monetary policy and safety. The White Coat Lab Project uncovered a dangerous, wasteful bat coronavirus study in a Montana lab that Fauci signed off on. Senator Rand Paul posted a Festivus Report declaring wasteful government spending that included Monkey Island, another reckless project funded by U.S. taxpayers with Fauci’s approval, which was also exposed by the White Coat Lab Project.

However, according to a report by the Hill, Debbie Dingel from Michigan said that Dr. Fauci clearly laid out a process for greenlighting proposals under NIAID. She said to the Hill, “When you are a supervisor or you are a manager, you have certain responsibilities. And his institute and NIH has a process that is followed where the appropriate people with authorities review things. And that’s the process that he laid out.” Dingell said. The transcripts will likely be released to the public.

The second day of questioning on Tuesday led to Fauci’s admission that the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic could have come from a lab. Sitting committee member Nicole Malliotkis told the New York Post, “After he had spent so much time suppressing it, he said there’s a possibility. And he acknowledged that we would need some cooperation from the Chinese to investigate the lab leak theory further.” In addition, Chairman Wenstrup stated that Fauci was more willing to consider lab leak as a possibility after getting into a scientific discussion during the hearing.

The committee also obtained documents that Dr. Fauci found a way to move forward with the coronavirus experiments in Wuhan despite a government-wide pause on gain-of-function research from 2014-2017. While the Energy Department and FBI came to the conclusion that the lab leak theory is the “most likely” explanation for the origins of the COVID-19 virus, the CIA was “unable to reach a consensus.” That may have something to do with Dr. Fauci going into CIA headquarters during the investigation to “influence” the analysis of COVID-19 origin. There was no record that Fauci went to the CIA, lending to the theory that he was sneakily trying to change the nature of the investigation that could directly implicate him in the deadly worldwide pandemic. During the second day of questioning, Fauci denied these allegations.

Senator Rand Paul has been outspoken against Dr. Fauci and has frequently advocated for accountability. In a thread on X (formerly known as Twitter), Senator Paul laid out several documented Fauci lies or flip-flops. A journal paper on proximal origins privately edited by Fauci in 2020 concluded that the virus is “not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus.”

Everyone knows the old joke about detecting when a certain person is lying…Just check to see if their lips are moving.

— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 8, 2024

Fauci also wrote a conflicting statement just days before the journal paper was published in February 2020. In a private conversation with the same virologists, Fauci said, “That they were concerned…That there were mutations in the virus that would be unusual to have evolved naturally in bats and that there was a suspicion that this mutation was intentionally inserted.”

In a more alarming report from Yahoo News in 2021, Dr. Fauci authored a paper in 2012 stating that the benefits of gain-of-function research outweigh the risks of starting a pandemic. In the paper, he acknowledges the dangers of doing this kind of research and that it could cause a pandemic. Indications suggest that Dr. Fauci knowingly approved risky research in Wuhan, potentially contributing to the release of the COVID-19 virus that caused the pandemic.

The committee will continue investigating the government’s response to the pandemic. This investigation aims to ensure the government is adequately prepared if and when another pandemic occurs. The other potential purpose is to hold public officials accountable for any decisions that knowingly put the public at significant risk. Lab leak theory is the most likely explanation for the start of the pandemic. Dr. Fauci signed off on that research in Wuhan, regardless of whether or not he chooses to classify that research as “gain-of-function.” The virus and the response to the pandemic were responsible for millions of deaths around the world. The committee said there will be a public hearing with Dr. Fauci again later this year. Wenstrup also noted that there are other people who do recall the pertinent information that Dr. Fauci fails to remember. As details about COVID-19 origins and pandemic policies emerge, Dr. Fauci might face accountability in the future.