House Republicans said they revealed a lack of oversight of research funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases during the first of two days interviewing the agency’s former director, Anthony Fauci.
“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,” Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) said.
Fauci, who led the largest branch of the National Institutes of Health for over 35 years, is a key witness for Republicans in the investigation over the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
In August, the subcommittee’s Republicans issued a report identifying that Fauci was intimately involved in the drafting and publication of a scientific paper published in Nature Medicine that purportedly debunked the hypothesis that the virus originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, an institution that indirectly received NIH funding through the private research firm EcoHealth Alliance.
According to Wenstrup, Fauci testified on Monday that he signed off on all foreign and domestic research grants without personally reviewing the proposals during his tenure at the NIH. Wenstrup also said Fauci could not describe any mechanism that would allow the NIAID to conduct oversight over foreign laboratories that receive funding from the United States.
“Clearly, the American people and the United States government are operating with completely different expectations about the responsibilities of our public health leaders and the accountability of our public health agencies,” Wenstrup said.
The ranking Democrat on the committee, Raul Ruiz (D-CA), has been highly critical of the GOP’s push to interview Fauci, calling it a political stunt. Of Monday’s interview, Ruiz said the exercise proved “that there was no cover-up of COVID-19’s origins nor a suppression of the lab leak theory on [Fauci’s] part.”
Ruiz said the subcommittee’s Democrats are “focused on examining lessons learned” that can be applied to future epidemics and pandemics “regardless of their origin.”
Ruiz was not in attendance on Monday, but he is expected to attend Tuesday’s session. Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Kathy Castor (D-FL) represented the minority on Monday.
According to subcommittee Republicans, Fauci said he did “not recall” over 100 pieces of information about the COVID-19 pandemic presented by the majority.
Wenstrup said it was “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.”
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The chairman said he intends to continue the second day of questioning by further probing Fauci on masking and lockdown policies as well as vaccine mandates.
“Nearly 1.2 million Americans lost their lives to a potentially preventable pandemic,” Wenstrup said. “[Tuesday’s] testimony will continue the Select Subcommittee’s effort to deliver the answers Americans demand and deserve.”