House Republicans Promise To Still Investigate Fauci After December Retirement
Republicans on the House Oversight Committee promised Monday to press onward with investigations into Dr. Anthony Fauci despite his intention to retire at the end of this year.
Fauci, who has served as director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for 38 years and as top medical adviser to President Joe Biden for the past two, announced Monday he will retire from both of those positions in December to pursue the “next chapter” in his career. Republican Kentucky Rep. James Comer, ranking member of the Oversight Committee, responded with a blistering statement assuring the public that Fauci will not be able to “shield” himself from investigation by retiring.
A) Top GOPer on Oversight Cmte Comer: Retirement can’t shield Dr. Fauci from congressional oversight. Emails obtained by Oversight Committee Republicans reveal what Dr. Fauci said publicly about COVID origins was very different than what was said privately.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) August 22, 2022
“Retirement can’t shield Dr. Fauci from congressional oversight. Emails obtained by Oversight Committee Republicans reveal what Dr. Fauci said publicly about COVID origins was very different than what was said privately,” Comer said. “Dr. Fauci was warned by top scientists early on that the virus looked genetically manipulated and likely leaked from the Wuhan lab. Despite these facts, Dr. Fauci dismissed these ideas in public as conspiracy theories.”
“We need to know if Dr. Fauci concealed anything from government officials in order to shield the NIH’s cozy relationship with EcoHealth Alliance,” he continued. (RELATED: Dr. Fauci Jokes That He Created COVID-19, Laughs About Gain-Of-Function Research)
Republican lawmakers have pledged to investigate Fauci’s role in suppressing the lab leak theory, which posits that the COVID-19 pandemic resulted from a lab accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Fauci’s agency, NIAID, funded various gain-of-function research projects at the Wuhan lab in the years leading up to the pandemic.
Fauci has denied funding gain-of-function research, which involves making pathogens more dangerous to humans via genetic modifications. Rutgers University microbiologist Dr. Richard Ebright testified earlier this month that the research Fauci funded does amount to gain-of-function. Fauci had previously defended this kind of research, claiming that it was important for preventing global pandemics and developing treatments and vaccines.
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