Dr. Anthony Fauci dodged more than 100 questions about Covid, the lab leak theory and his ties to Wuhan at a landmark congressional hearing on Monday.
House Republicans questioning the former White House adviser said he was “playing semantics” in defining risky “gain-of-function” research on dangerous viruses to avoid admitting that he funded dangerous research in China , which is feared to have triggered the pandemic.
The 82 year old Dr. Fauci also admitted that he approved millions of dollars in grants without reviewing the proposals and could not confirm that the agency he led had critical oversight of foreign labs funded by his former agency.
The day-long investigation on Monday will be followed by another seven hours of questioning behind closed doors on Tuesday.
Fauci is accused of concealing his role in funding potentially deadly experiments believed to have sparked the pandemic and suppressing scientific opinions that differ from the main group, which argued that all signs point to the The cause is leaks from such laboratories and not the transmission from animals to humans.
It is expected that Dr. Fauci's closed-door testimony will become heated, as has been the case in previous hearings. In the past, Dr. Fauci clashed with lawmakers, including Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, over his alleged cover-up of gain-of-function research funding as well as the Covid lab leak theory
Republican Congressman Brad Wenstrup of Ohio, who is leading the hearings, said: “Dr. Fauci’s testimony today exposed drastic and systemic failures in America’s public health systems.”
“It is clear that the American people and the United States government have completely different expectations for the responsibility of our public health leaders and the accountability of our health authorities.”
According to the House Select Committee on Coronavirus, Dr. Fauci said he remembered key details of the response “more than 100 times.”
The Republican also said he had backed away from his earlier assertion that the U.S. had not funded experiments that could make viruses more transmissible or more dangerous, known as “gain-of-function” research.
The marathon statement from Dr. Fauci has been a long time coming. The House coronavirus subcommittee forced him to appear before members nearly a year ago, but the finer points weren't finalized until late last year.
Congress, particularly the Republicans, have put Dr. Fauci's policies to curb the spread of Covid were criticized in the early days, including cumbersome advice on masks and school and business closures.
Since his last appearance before Congress more than a year ago, it has been revealed that Dr. Fauci oversaw the approval of risky coronavirus research in China and approved millions of dollars in grants.
EcoHealth Alliance – a controversial New York research organization led by British scientist Peter Daszak – helped distribute much of this funding.
The organization received $8 million in NIH grants between 2014 and 2021, which it awarded to research institutions.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology, where researchers conduct gain-of-function research on coronaviruses, received more than $3 million of that money for a project called “Understanding The Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.”
In December 2022, Dr. Andrew Huff, the former vice president of the EcoHealth Alliance, became a whistleblower and said he believed the NIH grants awarded to the organization were linked to the “emergence of SARS-CoV-2.”
Dr. Huff claimed that the pandemic was the result of the US government's funding of dangerous genetic engineering of coronaviruses in China.
Meanwhile, Fauci appears to have walked back his earlier claims that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which he led from 1984 to 2022, never provided federal funding for risky virus research.
He insisted to senators last summer that his former department “never funded and is not now funding gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”
But recently released emails dated February 1, 2020 revealed that Fauci acknowledged that “Scientists at Wuhan University are known to have been working on gain-of-function experiments to determine molecular mechanisms associated with bat virus adaptation of human infections and the outbreak began in Wuhan.'
New emails dated February 1, 2020 show that Fauci acknowledged that “Scientists at Wuhan University are known to have worked on gain-of-function experiments to determine that molecular mechanisms associated with bat virus adaptation to human infections and the Wuhan outbreak originated.”
He also could not confirm whether the NIAID has protocols in place to ensure proper oversight of the overseas labs that receive federal money.
Rep. Wenstrup said, “While he led the country’s response to COVID-19 and influenced the public narrative, he simultaneously had no idea what was happening under his own jurisdiction at NIAID.”
“Dr. “Fauci approved all domestic and foreign research grants without reviewing the proposals and admitted he did not know whether NIAID exercised oversight of the laboratories they funded.”
Lawmakers had compiled hundreds of pages of questions for the former White House medical adviser before Monday began
The protocol of Dr. Fauci's first-day testimony was not made publicly available, but given the tense tenor of previous hearings before congressional committees, Monday and Tuesday's sessions are expected to be heated.
Representative Wenstrup said: “I look forward to meeting Dr. “To ask Fauci further questions about mandates, his role in releasing the Proximal Origin paper, and his policy positions related to masks and lockdowns.”
'[Tuesday’s] The testimony will continue the Select Subcommittee’s efforts to deliver the answers Americans demand and deserve.”