Marjorie Taylor Greene says Fauci should be jailed and rails against ‘evil science’ at Covid hearing
Dr Fauci, the former head of the NIAID, is facing questions from the GOP-led subcommittee investigating the US’s Covid-19 response and the virus’s origins
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Infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci is facing questions from the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on Monday — marking his first Congressional testimony as a non-government official since stepping down in 2022.
Dr Fauci led the US’s response the Covid-19 pandemic, a role that earned him both praise and scrutiny alike. He is expected to face grilling from Congressional Republicans over the origins of the virus as well as transparency around government agency communications and records.
The former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is sitting for his first congressional testimony in almost two years.
The GOP-led subcommittee has requested access to Dr Fauci’s personal email and phone records after obtaining information, which, they say, calls into question whether he may have attempted to conceal some records.
Dr Fauci is appearing voluntarily on Monday. He has said that he has “nothing to hide.”
The divide between the Democrats and Republicans approach to the hearing is striking. One Democrat called this effort a “waste of time” while Republicans have pressed Fauci about conspiracies that have cropped up about the origins of Covid, including the lab leak theory and Fauci’s alleged ‘cover up’.
Raskin slams GOP for ‘bowing to convicted felon’ Trump
Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin has slammed Republicans for “bowing to convicted felon” Donald Trump after he told Americans to inject bleach to cure Covid-19 at the height of the pandemic.
Dr Anthony Fauci was called to testify before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic’s hearing on Monday, as House Republicans have sought to scrutinize his role as one of the chief faces of the federal government’s response to the pandemic.
Republicans have also baselessly floated the idea that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases funded so-called gain-of-function research that led to the spread of Covid-19.
Raskin instantly defended Dr Fauci from accusations that he had orchestrated the proliferation of Covid-19 while also attacking former president Trump and Republicans who bended to his will.
Raskin said that the hearing was meant to divert attention from the Trump administration’s failures to save lives and compared it to the failure of the Oversight Committee to find wrongdoing by President Joe Biden during its bungled impeachment inquiry.
“The investigation of Dr Fauci shows he is an honorable public servant who has devoted his entire career to the public health and the public interest and he is not a comic book super villain,” he said.
Eric Garcia has the full story...
A look-back at when then-President Donald Trump urged Americans to use a ‘disinfectant’ to treat Covid-19
In August 2020, Mr Trump suggested Americans inject “disinfectant”, like bleach, or use “light” to treat the virus that at the time was killing millions.
“So supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just a very powerful light — and I think you said that hasn’t been checked because of the testing,” Mr Trump said.
Turning to an official at the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, the then-president continued, “And I think you said that hasn’t been checked, but we’re going to test it?”
“And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, either through the skin or some other way.”
He continued, “I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning? As you see, it gets in the lungs, it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that.
Fauci has repeatedly tried to debunk false claims
One such claim that came up multiple times during the hearing was that he had earned money from “big pharma” during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Watch one of these exchanges here:
Jim Jordan takes the floor
GOP Rep Jim Jordan asked why it was “so important” that virus was not started in a lab?
He read exchanges between Facebook executives and the White House before asking why the Biden administration was trying to hide the idea that Covid-19 was started in a lab.
Fauci asked what this line of questioning had to do with him, as he wasn’t on those emails.
He then reiterated that Covid’s origins have not been determined. “I kept an open mind,” Fauci said, which Jordan repeated mockingly.
He disagreed that there was a push to downplay the lab leak’s theory. “Not on my part,” Fauci said.
“Really?” Jordan pushed.
“Look at the facts. I’ve kept an open mind throughout the process,” the expert retorted.
An ‘open mind'
“Oh absolutely,” Fauci said about the idea that a lab leak could have caused the virus.
However, he explained, “I feel like based on the data I have seen that the more likely, not definitive, but the more likely explanation is the spiollover from an animal reservoir. But since there has not been definitive proof one way or the other, we have to keep an open mind.”
Fauci has repeatedly expressed that he is keeping an “open mind” as it comes the virus’s origins.
“I keep an open mind as to whether [the possible origin] could be a laboratory leak or .... from a natural occurence from an animal reservoir,” he said in plain terms.
ICYMI: Fauci discusses the threats he has received since the pandemic
GOP members leave room: Report
Most of the Republican members have left the hearing, according to The Hill.
One of the GOP’s committee staff members is currently questioning Dr Fauci, asking him questions with a calmness that has so far been unprecedented in this heated hearing.
WATCH: Marjorie Taylor Greene verbally berates Anthony Fauci during House Covid-19 hearing
Expertise on display
Dr Fauci’s expertise was on full display during Monday’s hearing.
The infectious disease expert, despite being accused of essentially causing a global killer virus, remained composed as he debunked certain conspiracies brought by the GOP members of the subcommittee and stayed calm as he clarified some statements he made almost six months ago during a transcribed interview in January.
He did so largely using terms and examples that most laypeople can undertand.
Although he vehemently rejected some of the theories suggested by GOP members, he did not trip up on any misconstrued questions and instead opted to take “30 seconds”, as he did in one instance, to fully explain the answer rather than relying on a distorted prompt. For example, when multiple Republican members asked about animal testing, he asked what this had to do with the current hearing.
Not only did he refrain from taking the bait and straying into politics and away from the topic at hand, but his knowledge of infectious disease was clear. He frequently referred to long-standing medical practices, like the one that prompted the six-foot distance rule suggested by the CDC, and current medical papers.
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