Former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Dr. Anthony Fauci testified behind closed doors for Congress Monday and allegedly frequently failed to recall COVID-19 information.
Republican Ohio Rep. Brad Wenstrup, chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, said in a statement Monday night Fauci was unable to recall significant details related to the government’s COVID policies and the virus’ origins. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: House Subcommittee Chair Says Damning New Wuhan Lab Report ‘Can’t Help But Be Part Of’ Investigation)
🚨DR. FAUCI DAY 1 TAKEAWAYS🚨
Today, @COVIDSelect questioned Dr. Anthony Fauci for seven hours about his role during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Fauci’s testimony uncovered drastic and systemic failures in America’s public health systems.
Key highlights👇
— Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (@COVIDSelect) January 9, 2024
“Dr. Fauci’s testimony today uncovered drastic and systemic failures in America’s public health systems. While leading the nation’s COVID-19 response and influencing public narratives, he simultaneously had no idea what was happening under his own jurisdiction at NIAID,” Wenstrup said in a press release.
“It is also concerning that the face of our nation’s response to the world’s worst public health crisis ‘does not recall’ key details about COVID-19 origins and pandemic-era policies,” he added.
Dr. Fauci told lawmakers he “did not recall” COVID-related information and conversations more than 100 times, the subcommittee said in its press release.
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 8: Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), arrives for a closed-door interview with the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic at the U.S. Capitol January 8, 2024 in Washington, DC. Fauci is expected to face questioning about the origins of COVID-19, vaccine mandates and how to prevent future pandemics. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
He refused to concede that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, where the pandemic was first discovered, in line with previous testimony.
The COVID subcommittee published a report in July suggesting Fauci orchestrated a campaign to discredit the lab leak theory of coronavirus origins. He did so by influencing a research paper in 2020 that asserted COVID-19 originated from human contact with bats instead of a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Dr. Kristian Andersen, one of the paper’s authors, appeared to admit the purpose of the paper was to disprove the lab leak theory, private messages show.
Information gathered by the subcommittee appears to show Fauci met with the CIA to influence its assessment of whether the disease originated from a lab in Wuhan, China.
Fauci, the top COVID-19 advisor to former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, is testifying before the subcommittee again Tuesday to answer more questions about his role overseeing the federal government’s COVID-19 response.