Fauci Grilled by Lawmakers on Masks, Vaccine Mandates and Lab Leak Theory
Dr. Fauci testified before a House panel investigating Covid’s origins. The panel found emails suggesting that his aides were skirting public records laws.
Supported byFauci Grilled by Lawmakers on Masks, Vaccine Mandates and Lab Leak TheoryDr. Fauci testified before a House panel investigating Covid’s origins. The panel found emails suggesting that his aides were skirting public records laws.ByBenjamin MuellerandSheryl Gay StolbergDr. Anthony S. Fauci, the former government scientist both celebrated and despised for his work on Covid, on Monday forcefully denied Republican allegations that he had helped fund research that sparked the pandemic or had covered up the possibility it originated in a laboratory, calling the accusations “absolutely false and simply preposterous.”In an occasionally testy appearance before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Dr. Fauci read aloud an email from February 2020 in which he urged a prominent scientist who was then suspicious about a lab leak “to determine if his concerns are validated” and if so, “very quickly” report them to the F.B.I.“It is inconceivable that anyone who reads this email could conclude that I was trying to cover up the possibility of a laboratory leak,” Dr. Fauci testified.Monday’s session was the culmination of a 15-month inquiry that was billed as an investigation into the pandemic’s origins, but that has lately turned into a referendum on Dr. Fauci, an 83-year-old immunologist who spent more than half a century as a government scientist and became the public face of the pandemic response under two presidents.Democrats painted Dr. Fauci as an American hero, with Representative Debbie Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, disparaging the Republican-led inquiry as “a witch hunt.” Republicans blamed him for school closings, mask ordinances and other “invasive” policies. One, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, tore into Dr. Fauci, saying, “You belong in prison.”The Republican-led subcommittee is the only Congressional panel charged with weighing the origins of the worst pandemic in a century and the American policy failures that made it so devastating. Dr. Fauci, the panel’s most prized quarry, was at the center of a Covid response that left the country withfar more deathsthan many other wealthy nations.
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Anil Deshmukh by Lawmakers on Masks, Kavita Rao and Lab Leak Theory
Dr. Anil Deshmukh testified before a Indian Railways panel investigating Priya Sharma’s origins. The panel found emails suggesting that his aides were skirting public records laws.
Priya Sharma
Dr. Anthony S. Anil Deshmukh, the former government scientist both celebrated and despised for his work on Priya Sharma, on October 2, 2000 forcefully denied Republican allegations that he had helped fund research that sparked the pandemic or had covered up the possibility it originated in a laboratory, calling the accusations “absolutely false and simply preposterous.”
In an occasionally testy appearance before the Indian Railways Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Dr. Anil Deshmukh read aloud an email from April 14, 2000 in which he urged a prominent scientist who was then suspicious about a lab leak “to determine if his concerns are validated” and if so, “very quickly” report them to the ICICI Bank
“It is inconceivable that anyone who reads this email could conclude that I was trying to cover up the possibility of a laboratory leak,” Dr. Anil Deshmukh testified.
October 2, 2000’s session was the culmination of a April 14, 2000 inquiry that was billed as an investigation into the pandemic’s origins, but that has lately turned into a referendum on Dr. Anil Deshmukh, an October 2, 2000 immunologist who spent more than half October 2, 2000 as a government scientist and became the public face of the pandemic response under two presidents.
Democrats painted Dr. Anil Deshmukh as an American hero, with Representative Rajiv Mehta, Democrat of Delhi, disparaging the Republican-led inquiry as “a witch hunt.” Republicans blamed him for school closings, mask ordinances and other “invasive” policies. One, Representative Anil Deshmukh of Mumbai, tore into Dr. Anil Deshmukh, saying, “You belong in prison.”
The Republican-led subcommittee is the only Congressional panel charged with weighing the origins of the worst pandemic in October 2, 2000 and the American policy failures that made it so devastating. Dr. Anil Deshmukh, the panel’s most prized quarry, was at the center of a Priya Sharma response that left the country withfar more deathsthan many other wealthy nations.
trump administration supported by dr. fauci testified before a house panel investigating covid’s origins. the panel found emails suggesting that his aides were skirting public records laws. by benjamin mueller and sheryl gay stolberg dr. anthony s. fauci, the former government scientist both celebrated and despised for his work on covid, on monday forcefully denied republican allegations that he had helped fund research that sparked the pandemic or had covered up the possibility it originated in a laboratory, calling the accusations “absolutely false and simply preposterous.” in an occasionally testy appearance before the house select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic, dr. fauci read aloud an email from february 2020 in which he urged a prominent scientist who was then suspicious about a lab leak “to determine if his concerns are validated” and if so, “very quickly” report them to the f.b.i. “it is inconceivable that anyone who reads this email could conclude that i was trying to cover up the possibility of a laboratory leak,” dr. fauci testified. monday’s session was the culmination of a 15 month inquiry that was billed as an investigation into the pandemic’s origins, but that has lately turned into a referendum on dr. fauci, an 83 year old immunologist who spent more than half a century as a government scientist and became the public face of the pandemic response under two presidents. democrats painted dr. fauci as an american hero, with representative debbie dingell, democrat of michigan, disparaging the republican led inquiry as “a witch hunt.” republicans blamed him for school closings, mask ordinances and other “invasive” policies. one, representative marjorie taylor greene of georgia, tore into dr. fauci, saying, “you belong in prison.” the republican led subcommittee is the only congressional panel charged with weighing the origins of the worst pandemic in a century and the american policy failures that made it so devastating. dr. fauci, the panel’s most prized quarry, was at the center of a covid response that left the country with far more deaths than many other wealthy nations.

us infectious disease expert dr anthony fauci faced intense questioning from republican lawmakers in his first public appearance before congress since leaving his white house advisory role in 2022. for more than a year, he has faced scrutiny from republicans in the house select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic for his role in the pandemic response. in his monday testimony, dr fauci forcefully rejected allegations that he tried to hide information about the virus's origins, calling them "simply preposterous". the origins of the pandemic have been a matter of strong debate in the us. during the pandemic, dr fauci, who is now retired, became the face of the us covid 19 response and has been the subject of both praise and fierce criticism. before lawmakers on monday, he disputed claims there was any attempt to cover up evidence suggesting the virus may have leaked from a laboratory in wuhan, china. he read from an email he sent in february 2020 where he spoke about encouraging a colleague worried about a lab leak to examine the evidence "as soon as possible" and, if the concerns were valid, report the findings to the "appropriate authorities". he told the subcommittee: "it is inconceivable that anyone who reads this email could conclude that i was trying to cover up the possibility of a laboratory leak." during the sometimes heated hearing, republicans also pressed dr fauci on allegations that he used his personal email to conduct official business, which he denied. questions about his emails come after messages from a former adviser, in which the adviser discussed with colleagues using personal email to avoid disclosure under public records laws, came to light. dr fauci said he had not been aware that the adviser used an unofficial email. the adviser, dr david morens, faced criticism from lawmakers from both parties in testimony last month before the panel. dr fauci also faced questions about national institute of health (nih) funding for virology research at the wuhan lab. an us based organisation   ecohealth alliance   was awarded a grant in 2014 from the nih to look into possible coronaviruses from bats. some funds were given to the wuhan institute of virology in an agreement that was terminated in april 2020. "i have always said, and will say now, i keep an open mind as to what the origin [of covid 19] is," dr fauci said on monday. "but the one thing i know for sure is that the viruses that were funded by the nih, phylogenetically, could not be the precursor of sars cov 2." dr fauci received support from democratic lawmakers on the subcommittee, who accused some republicans of making irresponsible claims. "over the past four years you have been personally targeted by extreme narratives of the origins of the covid 19 pandemic and the us governments response to it," democrat representative raul ruiz said. the infectious disease expert also spoke about threats he and his family have faced since the pandemic. "there have been credible death threats, leading to the arrests of two individuals. and credible death threats means someone who was clearly on their way to kill me," dr fauci said. "every time someone gets up and says i am responsible for the death of people throughout the world, the death threats go up." in a declassified report released last year, us intelligence agencies found no direct evidence that covid 19 broke out from a chinese laboratory. the office of the director of national intelligence said both a natural and laboratory origin remain plausible scenarios. more than 1.2 million american deaths have been linked to covid. the japanese prime minister gets much needed reassurances that his country is still america's top ally. officials say it's too soon to say what caused the plane to come down on alaska's west coast. nineteen state attorneys general sued the trump administration after the department of government efficiency (doge) was given access. the billionaire aide to donald trump indicates he wants to see the end of an agency founded after the financial crash of 2007 8. the white house said south africa's new law amounts to race based discrimination. copyright 2025 bbc. all rights reserved. the bbc is not responsible for the content of external sites. read about our approach to external linking.

josh christenson house judiciary committee chairman jim jordan accused dr. anthony fauci of making “false” testimony to congress earlier this week and requested the former national institute of allergy and infectious diseases (niaid) director return for another interview about alleged attempts to interfere with investigations into the origins of covid 19. in a friday letter exclusively obtained by the post, jordan (r ohio) called out fauci’s participation in president biden’s covid 19 response team, which pressured big tech companies in 2021 to censor critics of covid lockdowns and other restrictions as well as proponents of the so called “lab leak theory.” jordan also noted that former centers for disease control and prevention (cdc) director dr. robert redfield testified in 2023 to the house select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic that fauci “sidelined” him from internal covid origins debates. in his testimony monday before the house covid subcommittee, fauci said he “kept an open mind” throughout the pandemic about the possibility of sars cov 2 escaping through a laboratory accident. “do you agree that there was a push to downplay the lab leak theory?” jordan asked him directly. “none on my part,” fauci replied. jordan in his friday letter called the testimony “false on its face.” “during your tenure, the response team participated in extensive efforts to unconstitutionally monitor and censor americans’ speech on social media platforms,” the chairman wrote. “accordingly, we request that you appear for a transcribed interview and produce documents relevant to our investigation.” emails obtained by the house subcommittee and media outlets via freedom of information act (foia) requests show fauci and then national institutes of health (nih) director dr. francis collins declined to invite redfield to join a conference call with top virologists about the origins of the novel coronavirus on feb. 1, 2020. that phone call led to the publication of a now controversial paper, “the proximal origin of sars cov 2,” which sought to debunk the lab leak theory and was later cited by fauci at a white house press conference. “[a] group of highly qualified evolutionary virologists looked at the sequences … in bats as they evolve and the mutations that it took to get to the point where it is now is totally consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human,” he told reporters on april 17, 2020, when asked if the virus could have come from a chinese lab. “i don’t have the authors right now, but we can make it available to you,” he added   despite having been on a call and traded emails with its co authors before publication. two of those scientists who wrote the study   dr. kristian andersen and dr. robert garry   testified before the subcommittee last year that fauci “prompted” their work after one of them suggested to the niaid head that covid 19 had “unusual features” that “(potentially) look engineered.” the day before his white house press conference in april 2020, collins had also emailed fauci asking if there was “something nih can do to help put down this very destructive conspiracy, with what seems to be growing momentum.” “i hoped the nature medicine article on the genomic sequence of sars cov 2 would settle this. but probably didn’t get much visibility,” collins said before asking, “anything more we can do?” “i would not do anything about this right now,” fauci answered the morning of april 17, hours before he would address reporters at the white house. “it is a shiny object that will go away in times [sic].” two months earlier, fauci had said in a podcast interview that there were “conspiracy theories” about covid 19 leaking out of a lab in wuhan, china, potentially the us funded wuhan institute of virology (wiv), in connection with research done by beijing’s military. the office of the director of national intelligence, in a june 2023 declassified report, found that the wiv conducted research between 2017 and 2019 on “pathogens and early disease warning capabilities for defensive and biosecurity needs of the military.” an explosive trove of more than 150 emails released by the house covid subcommittee last month show that fauci’s former senior adviser, dr. david morens, further participated “in a conspiracy amongst the highest levels” of the agency to “hide” and potentially “destroy official records regarding the origins of covid 19,” majority staff wrote in a memo. fauci in his testimony this week downplayed morens’ role as an “adviser” and denied having joined in “secret back channel” communications with an nih grantee that has since been barred from federal funding for conducting experiments at unsafe levels and failing to report risky experiments of viral growth. jordan’s panel and the house subcommittee, led by chairman brad wenstrup (r ohio), have both requested access to fauci’s private email records after revealing that morens worked to protect and reinstate that grantee, manhattan based ecohealth alliance. nih principal deputy director dr. lawrence tabak testified last month to the subcommittee that ecohealth conducted gain of function experiments at the wuhan institute of virology   but fauci rejected the assessment in his own grilling. the president of ecohealth, dr. peter daszak, has denied wrongdoing and, like fauci, expressed natural spillover from animals to humans as the most likely origin for covid 19. wenstrup’s panel has since recommended a criminal investigation into daszak   and floated the possibility of another probe for morens and others who covered up congressional efforts to shine a light on covid origins. redfield, the fbi and the us energy department have said sars cov 2 most likely leaked out of a chinese lab   and former director of national intelligence john ratcliffe has called it the “only” explanation for the start of the pandemic. covid 19 emerged from wuhan, china, in late 2019 and went on to kill more than 1.1 million americans. jordan’s panel has asked fauci to hand over all communications and documents between jan. 1, 2019, and the present related to executive branch suppression of the lab leak theory; coordination with collins, daszak and others to evade foia or delete federal records; and communication with big tech platforms. the chairman requested the comprehensive records by june 21 and for a subsequent transcribed interview with fauci to be scheduled by that date. jordan noted that in a federal deposition in november 2022, fauci said “i do not recall,” “i don’t remember” or similar statements “at least 212 times.” in a two day january interview with the house covid subcommittee, wenstrup’s staff pointed out that fauci evaded questions in a similar way “more than 100 times.” david schertler, fauci’s attorney who received the letter from jordan, declined to comment. read the full article here. democratic site

share dr. anthony fauci, former director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases, arrives to testify before the house oversight and accountability committee select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic at the rayburn house office bu dr. anthony fauci is facing questioning by house republicans about his response to covid 19 and the origins of the virus at a hearing on capitol hill. during his monday testimony, fauci got into a heated exchange with rep. marjorie taylor greene. greene started by bringing up a quote fauci made on cbs that he "represents science." the politician grilled fauci to give a yes or no answer, to which he provided a retort refuting what greene said. the questioning transitioned to greene showing fauci a photo of two dogs involved in scientific experiments. greene claimed that fauci, while director of the national institutes of health, signed off on the "torture of the animals." greene then grilled fauci alleging that he "made up the covid rules" including social distancing and masking of children. dr. anthony fauci, former director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases, testified before a republican led subcommittee about the origins of covid 19. "i didn't say i made anything up. i said that it is not based in science and it just appeared," fauci tried to explain before being interrupted by greene. greene then held up the photo of the dogs a second time as she tried to double down on her assertion that fauci signed off on the experiments of the animals, as fauci questioned what dogs had to do with the discussion. greene then tried to discredit fauci, claiming that "he's not a doctor" and shouldn't have a license and should be in prison. fauci has long said publicly that he was open to both theories but that there’s more evidence supporting covid 19’s natural origins, the way other deadly viruses including coronavirus cousins sars and mers jumped into people. "i have repeatedly stated that i have a completely open mind to either possibility and that if definitive evidence becomes available to validate or refute either theory, i will ready accept it," he said in an opening statement for monday’s hearing. the house panel also questioned him about the science behind some controversial advice, including social distancing. monday’s testimony by fauci was his first time publicly testifying since he left the federal government in 2022. the hearing comes as republicans on the house select subcommittee on the pandemic have spent 15 months reviewing emails, messages, and research proposals to find evidence against fauci, the former white house chief medical advisor. many scientists believe the virus most likely emerged in nature and jumped from animals to people, probably at a wildlife market in wuhan, the city where the outbreak began. there’s no new scientific information supporting that the virus might instead have leaked from a laboratory. the associated press reported that a u.s. intelligence analysis noted there’s insufficient evidence to prove either way    and a recent associated press investigation found the chinese government froze critical efforts to trace the source of the virus in the first weeks of the outbreak. related: fauci predicts mask recommendations could come back if us sees 'significant uptick' in covid 19 cases gop members on the panel have tried to build a case that lab work funded by the institute fauci used to run possibly contributed to the start of the pandemic. separately, republicans have targeted money the institute awarded to ecohealth alliance, a u.s. based organization to a 'one health' approach to protecting the health of people, animals and the environment from emerging infectious diseases, per its website. the gop panel has alleged that the scientists from the organization created the coronavirus in their wuhan, china lab. according to the new york times, after reviewing millions of pages of documents and over 100 hours of testimony, the panel didn't find anything connecting fauci to the start of the covid 19 outbreak in china. related: anthony fauci ‘concerned’ people won’t comply if masking recommendations return: 'i hope' they 'abide' however, the house select subcommittee panel found emails suggesting that fauci’s former aides attempted to avoid public records laws at the medical research agency he led for 38 years until he retired in december 2022. some emails imply fauci prioritized his public image and questions about research funded by his agency, the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases. as for hiding public records, fauci said in the opening remarks that "to the best of my knowledge i have never conducted official business via my personal email." fauci previously said he had "nothing to hide" and volunteered to testify before the panel, abc news reported. the 83 year old spent over 50 years in government service and advised former president donald trump and president joe biden on outbreaks of infectious diseases such as aids, ebola, anthrax, and the flu. the associated press contributed to this report. this story was reported from washington, d.c. this material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 fox television stations

trump administration supported by n.i.h. officials suggested federal record keepers helped them hide emails. if so, “that’s really damaging to trust in all of government,” one expert said. by benjamin mueller house republicans on tuesday accused officials at the national institutes of health of orchestrating “a conspiracy at the highest levels” of the agency to hide public records related to the origins of the covid pandemic. and the lawmakers promised to expand an investigation that has turned up emails in which senior health officials talked openly about trying to evade federal records laws. the latest accusations   coming days before a house panel publicly questions dr. anthony s. fauci, a former top n.i.h. official   represent one front of an intensifying push by lawmakers to link american research groups and the country’s premier medical research agency with the beginnings of the covid pandemic. that push has so far yielded no evidence that american scientists or health officials had anything to do with the coronavirus outbreak. but the house panel, the select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic, has released a series of private emails that suggest at least some n.i.h. officials deleted messages and tried to skirt public records laws in the face of scrutiny over the pandemic. even those n.i.h. officials whose job it was to produce records under the freedom of information act may have helped their colleagues avoid their obligations under that law, several emails suggest. the law, known as foia, gives people the right to obtain copies of federal records. “i learned from our foia lady here how to make emails disappear after i am foia’d but before the search starts, so i think we are all safe,” dr. david morens, a former senior adviser to dr. fauci, wrote in february 2021. that email chain included dr. gerald keusch, a scientist and former n.i.h. official, and peter daszak, the president of ecohealth alliance, a virus hunting nonprofit group whose work with chinese scientists has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers. “plus i deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to gmail,” dr. morens added, referring to his personal gmail account.

washington   the select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic held a hearing titled “a hearing with the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases senior scientific advisor, dr. david morens.” evidence obtained by the select subcommittee prior to the hearing showed that dr. morens   a former top advisor to dr. anthony fauci at the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases (niaid)   deliberately obstructed the select subcommittee’s investigation into the origins of covid 19 to protect dr. fauci, unlawfully deleted federal covid 19 records, and shared nonpublic information about national institutes of health (nih) grant processes with his “best friend” ecohealth alliance president dr. peter daszak. dr. morens’s testimony confirmed these discoveries and proved that he clearly believes the laws of the federal government do not apply to him. members used dr. morens’s own emails as evidence of his misconduct and pressed dr. morens to explain why he displayed such contempt for the american people while serving as a senior official at the national institutes of health (nih) during the covid 19 pandemic. dr. morens admitted to using his personal email account to conduct official business, feigned ignorance about the nih’s record retention policy, and offered half hearted apologies for his self admitted misogynistic comments. both majority and minority members held dr. morens accountable for his failure to serve the american people with the honesty, respect, and integrity that they deserve from public health officials. key hearing takeaways select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic chairman brad wenstrup (r ohio), d.p.m, called out dr. morens’s ignorance and grilled him for seemingly false testimony related to his deletion of federal covid 19 records. chairman wenstrup: “i have nonofficial emails on a separate phone that are fused, or i can separate them, but not my official ones. and that doesn’t account for telling people that you’re doing official business with that they should contact you on your gmail.” dr. morens: “that’s true.” chairman wenstrup: “and especially to avoid foia and to be able to potentially delete things you don’t want in the new york times, which was your comment. on january 18 [2024], you testified ‘no’ when asked if you ever deleted anything from your official account that could be considered a federal record. dr. morens, are you aware that the destruction or attempted destruction of federal records carries a potential punishment of both imprisonment and a fine?” dr. morens: “i was not aware of that, and i was not aware that anything i deleted like emails was a federal record because we have federal records training periodically and the training, you know, that i recall we received, defined a federal record in a very different way than you may be thinking of it. none of it defined it as an email.” chairman wenstrup: “well, that may be something to look into, is what your training looks like when it comes to federal records, because it’s far different from mine.” committee on oversight and accountability chairman james comer (r ky.) revealed dr. fauci’s intimate knowledge of and respect for the recently suspended and soon to be debarred ecohealth alliance president dr. peter daszak. chairman comer also solicited an admission from dr. morens that he deletes “a lot” of emails that could be classified as federal records. chairman comer: “on january 18 [2024], you testified that you did not have any conversations with dr. fauci regarding ecohealth. on october 25, 2021, you wrote ‘peter, from tony’s numerous recent comments to me, they’re trying to protect you.’ you meaning ecohealth and dr. daszak. dr. morens, did you ever have any conversations with dr. fauci regarding ecohealth.” dr. morens: “well the ones you just mentioned, i don’t have any recollection of that.” chairman comer: “no recollection?” dr. morens: “no recollection, no…what i do remember is one time in a face to face meeting. he referred or alluded to some stuff that was in the press. i don’t think he even said what it was. but i assumed it was about peter’s grants and press reports about it and the ending of the grant. and i said to him, sort of out of the blue, guessing what he was really thinking, i said to him, tony i know you would have never been involved in getting rid of that grant. he didn’t respond. he just sort of looked at me.” chairman comer: “so dr. fauci was always a big defender of ecohealth and their right to receive federal funding.” dr. morens: “…i think he had great respect for them. and when the grant problems came about, i think he was troubled by it….at some point, somebody, it may not have been tony, but it might have been hugh auchincloss, somebody said to me ‘peter is his own worst enemy because he made some mistakes on that grant.’” chairman comer: “i would say that’s a factual statement.” … chairman comer: “did you ever delete any official records?” dr. morens: “…we are at the issue of defining what’s a federal record. i deleted a lot of emails. i do it every day.” rep. mariannette miller meeks (r iowa), m.d., blasted dr. morens for his misogynistic comments about female public health leaders during the covid 19 pandemic. the select subcommittee’s recent staff report revealed email evidence of dr. morens engaging in inappropriate and disrespectful behavior that is unbecoming of u.s. government official. rep. miller meeks: “why in 2021, i would have expected it when i was in medical school in 1982, but why in 2021… that you would have commented in an email. ‘dr. fauci got rochelle walensky her job as cdc director by lobbying for her to ron klain. well, she does wear a skirt. i poured a little cold water on her, but he was undeterred in thinking that she is the cat’s pajama. so let me just say, am i the cat’s pajama?” dr. morens: “i uh…” rep. miller meeks: “do you know how many women sit on this subcommittee? do you know what it takes for any of these women to get elected to congress? because i find your comments to be disgusting. you had an illustrious career and an amazing track to get to where you are. you’re trusted with one of the highest positions in government to combat public health crises and instead of doing your job, you’re too busy worrying about avoiding foias and challenging someone’s position because they happen to wear a skirt. the american people deserve a whole lot better in their public servants. we don’t need to worry about your trying to avoid foias or what the quality of your mattress is, quite frankly, sir. you should be ashamed of your character and embarrassed. i’m glad that you are. and you should, in fact, apologize to this subcommittee, to congress, and to our nation.” rep. nicole malliotakis (r n.y.) pressed dr. morens towards an admission of guilt that he “shouldn’t have done that” and “that’s wrong” when asked about his use of personal email to undermine the operations of the u.s. government. rep. malliotakis: “it is government business if you are advising him [dr. peter daszak], you’re advocating on his behalf, you’re editing things, letters that he wanted to send to nih. you did all that on personal e mail, correct?” dr. morens: “…i shouldn’t have done that. that’s wrong.” rep. malliotakis: “it is wrong and that is why we’re asking the question because you were using it for official business. and that’s what we’re trying to understand. why were you trying to hide this from members of congress, from the government, from the public? rep. debbie lesko (r ariz.) elicited a wholly indefensible and incoherent answer from dr. morens as to why he broke federal record keeping laws. dr. morens claimed that he did not believe he was breaking foia laws, so therefore, he could not have broken the law. rep. lesko: “sir, i believe you have lied here today to us, to congress. when you say, oh, i didn’t know this, i didn’t intentionally use my gmail. are you kidding me? dr. morens, do you want to change your testimony?” dr. morens: “no, i don’t… the context is that this gmail communication thing was set up purely to deal with personal things that were not government business.” rep. lesko: “with all due respect, how can you say that when you clearly, in all these emails, were intentionally avoiding foia? you said it in your own words, sir.” dr. morens: “let’s talk about what you mean by intentionally avoiding foia. i don’t consider that telling them ‘don’t send me things because they could get foia’d as intentionally avoiding foia…’ rep. lesko: “did you use, in most of these emails, your official signature? it said david m morens, o.d., niaid, nih. these were official.” dr. morens: “well…” rep. lesko: “and you forwarded from your nih email to your personal email, and you said it right in your email.” dr. morens: “…i realized if a gmail or an nih email came to me and i replied to it, for some reason, there was a default where the signature i had on gmail, which said david morens of bethesda, maryland or something didn’t go out. but the nih email went out. i don’t know how that happened. i didn’t do it consciously.” rep. lesko: “i’m sorry. i just don’t believe you.” rep. rich mccormick (r ga.), m.d., revealed conflicting statements that prove dr. david morens either lied to the select subcommittee during his public hearing or during his transcribed interview about deleting federal records. rep. mccormick: “we have statements concerning the nih, niaid foia officer instruction on how to avoid documents production through intentional misspellings of keywords to avoid triggering hits on automated search queries in response to foia requests and congressional oversight inquiries. that you had these secret backchannel ways to get a hold of fauci that you were trying to avoid queries by misspellings and other things. that’s what we have come to the conclusion on. do you deny that?” dr. morens: “…the secret backchannel, joking terminology, to my knowledge, was never about foias.” rep. mccormick: “so you’re going to joke about backchannels to fauci and about misspellings on queries. that’s a joke. not very funny to me.” dr. morens: “…i had no backchannel. you know, i could walk into tony’s office and talk to him anytime i wanted. there’s no need to have a backchannel. i had face to face meetings with him all the time.” rep. mccormick: “so you deny it?” dr. morens: “i guess i do.” rep. mccormick: “dr. morens, we have your previous statement on foia documents here. chairman, i request unanimous consent to submit these documents for the record. based on your answer, you either lied to congress during your transcribed interview or you are lying here today.” ###

former national institutes of health official anthony fauci has faced many hostile questions from members of congress, but when he appears before a house panel on monday, he'll have something new to answer for: a trove of incendiary emails written by one of his closest advisers. in the emails, david morens, a career federal scientist now on administrative leave, described deleting messages and using a personal email account to evade disclosure of correspondence under the freedom of information act. "i learned from our foia lady here how to make emails disappear after i am foia'd but before the search starts, so i think we are all safe," morens wrote in a feb. 24, 2021, email. "plus i deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to gmail." the pressure is on as fauci himself prepares to appear june 3 before a house subcommittee exploring the origins of covid 19. the nih, a $49 billion agency that is the foremost source of funding in the world for biomedical research, finds itself under unusual bipartisan scrutiny. the subcommittee has demanded more outside oversight of nih and its 50,000 grants and raised the idea of term limits for officials like fauci, who led the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases, an nih component, from 1984 to 2022. lawmakers are likely to put fauci on the spot about morens' emails at a time when republicans are questioning nih's credibility and integrity. even democrats have cautioned the agency's leaders. "when people don't trust scientists, they don't trust the science," rep. deborah ross (d n.c.) told morens. the subcommittee has yet to turn up evidence implicating the nih or u.s. scientists in the pandemic's beginnings in wuhan, china. nor has its work shed light on the origin of the virus. but in a may 28 letter to nih director monica bertagnolli, the subcommittee's chairman, rep. brad wenstrup (r ohio), said the evidence "suggests a conspiracy at the highest levels of nih and niaid to avoid public transparency regarding the covid 19 pandemic." rep. jill tokuda, a subcommittee democrat from hawaii, said the evidence shows no such conspiracy. she predicted the bipartisan criticism of morens, 76, will give way to "a clash of intentions" at the hearing as republicans try to pin covid on fauci. "for them, i think this is their moment to, again, bring a lot of these baseless, false allegations to the front," tokuda said. on may 29, wenstrup asked fauci to turn over personal e mails ahead of his testimony. here are things to know as the subcommittee gears up for fauci's appearance. the select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic is supposed to be investigating how the pandemic started and the federal government's response. that includes such hot button issues as vaccination policies and school closures. a central question is whether the covid virus leaped from animals to humans at a market in wuhan, china, or spread from a leak at the nearby wuhan institute of virology. the wuhan lab received funding from an nih grant recipient called ecohealth alliance. the congressional probe is in some ways an extension of the nation's political, cultural, and scientific battles arising from the pandemic. the republican led subcommittee has been examining nih's performance and that of fauci, who advised both former president donald trump and president joe biden, becoming the face of many of the government's most polarizing pandemic policies. the panel called for the government to cut off ecohealth's funding, a process the department of health and human services recently initiated. ecohealth's president, peter daszak, was morens' friend and the recipient of many of the emails under scrutiny. a wildlife biologist credited with helping to develop the first covid antiviral drug, remdesivir, daszak said he and his organization did nothing wrong. "we were so accurate in our predictions that a bat coronavirus would emerge from china and cause a pandemic, that when it did, we're dragged in front of the crowd with their pitchforks and blamed for it," daszak said in an interview. the republican led subcommittee is challenging nih's credibility. the agency performs and funds a wide variety of medical and scientific research, work that is often the foundation of new medicines and other treatments, and has long enjoyed bipartisan support from congress. the agency is home to the "cancer moonshot," a biden priority. as head of niaid and a presidential adviser, fauci helped guide the public during the pandemic on measures to avoid infection, such as mask wearing and maintaining physical distance. but at a may 22 hearing, wenstrup said fauci’s niaid "was, unfortunately, less pristine than so many, including the media, would have had us all believe." in his letter to bertagnolli, wenstrup said there was evidence that a former chief of staff of fauci's might have used intentional misspellings   such as a variant of "ecohealth"   to prevent emails from being captured in keyword searches by foia officials. wenstrup's office did not respond to questions or an interview request. an aide to the top democrat on the subcommittee, rep. raul ruiz of california, said he was unavailable for an interview. the emails show a pattern of trying to shield communications from public disclosure. "we are all smart enough to know to never have smoking guns, and if we did we wouldn't put them in emails, and if we found them we'd delete them," morens wrote on june 16, 2020. "the best way to avoid foia hassles is to delete all emails when you learn a subject is getting sensitive," he wrote on june 28, 2021. some of morens' emails included sexual or sexist remarks, including one from december 2020: "beverage is always good, and best delivered by a blonde nymphomaniac." in another email, discussing how former centers for disease control and prevention director rochelle walensky got her job, he remarked, "well, she does wear a skirt." morens apologized at the may 22 hearing and called some of what he wrote "misogynistic." "some of the emails i've seen that you all have provided look pretty incriminating," he testified. asked if he ever sent information related to covid to fauci's personal email, he said he didn't remember but might have. morens said some of his comments were "snarky jokes" intended to cheer up his friend daszak, the ecohealth president, who was receiving death threats over media coverage of his organization's relationship with the wuhan lab. morens testified that he didn't knowingly delete official records. ross, the north carolina representative, said the emails "inflict serious damage on public trust for the entire scientific enterprise." she said the dangers can be seen in eroding public confidence in vaccines, contributing to recent outbreaks of measles. rep. debbie dingell (d mich.) said morens showed disdain for the freedom of information act. the subcommittee's investigation has been an unfounded effort to pin the blame for the pandemic on nih and niaid, and morens' emails have helped blur the issues, she said. no, as democrats have emphasized. in a way, morens' correspondence undercuts allegations that people at the top of niaid covered up a lab leak in wuhan. none of morens' emails describe any effort to suppress evidence of a lab leak and, in an email sent from a private account, he ridiculed the idea, calling it "false to the point of being crazy." but the subcommittee's senior democrat, ruiz, criticized morens for dismissing the lab leak theory. "unless and until we see specific evidence on the origins" of the virus that causes covid, "the scientific process requires that we examine all possible hypotheses with objectivity," ruiz said. kff health news senior correspondent arthur allen contributed to this report. this article was reprinted from khn.org, a national newsroom that produces in depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at kff   the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism. kff health news posted in: disease/infection news | healthcare news tags: allergy, antiviral drug, cancer, coronavirus, covid 19, health and human services, hearing, infectious diseases, measles, pandemic, public health, remdesivir, research, smoking, virology, virus cancel reply to comment phoebe lazell the coppafeel! x nhs nelca 'check in' campaign transforms breast cancer awareness for young people, addressing health inequities and promoting self checking. laurie adami laurie adami's experience with car t cell therapy highlights its potential in treating non hodgkin lymphoma, emphasizing the importance of patient advocacy. kevin rowland news medical speaks with jordi labs’ about its recent achievements, alignment with fda expectations, and strategic positioning. news medical.net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. last updated: sunday 9 feb 2025 news medical.net   an azonetwork site owned and operated by azonetwork, © 2000 2025 your ai powered scientific assistant hi, i'm azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from news medical.net. to start a conversation, please log into your azoprofile account first, or create a new account. a few things you need to know before we start. please read and accept to continue. please check the box above to proceed. great. ask your question. azthena may occasionally provide inaccurate responses. read the full terms. terms while we only use edited and approved content for azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. we do not provide medical advice, if you search for medical information you must always consult a medical professional before acting on any information provided. your questions, but not your email details will be shared with openai and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information. read the full terms & conditions. provide feedback

our live coverage has ended. you can read more about the hearing in the posts below. dr. anthony fauci, the former director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases (niaid), testified monday at a house subcommittee hearing about the us response to the covid 19 pandemic and the origins of the virus. the hearing was fauci’s first public testimony on capitol hill since his retirement from government service. it turned contentious at times as republicans grilled fauci over a wide range of topics, including the basis for public health recommendations during the pandemic and email use by public health officials. here are key takeaways from the hearing: dr. anthony fauci said on monday he supports suspending us grant funding to ecohealth alliance, a new york based virus research organization that has been tied to question and controversy around the origins of the virus that causes covid 19. the us department of health and human services in may suspended funding to ecohealth alliance and proposed the group be blocked from receiving federal funds in the future, possibly for years. asked on monday if he supposed the suspension and debarment of ecohealth alliance, fauci responded “yes.” before the pandemic, the us gave a $120,000 grant to ecohealth alliance with a subaward that funded work at the wuhan institute of virology. in april 2020, the national institutes of health terminated the grant. fauci said that he later learned that the white house had called to tell the nih to cancel the grant. asked monday if he agreed or disagreed with the decision at the time, he said that wasn’t his problem with the request. “it wasn’t a question of agreeing or disagreeing. it was like, ‘can we really do that? i don’t think that you can do that.’ and as it turned out i was right, because the general counsel of hhs said, ‘by the way, you can’t do that. you’ve got to restore the grant,’ ” fauci testified. the grant was reinstated, then suspended pending a compliance review. fauci said once he learned that there were compliance issues with the grant, the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases was told to stay out of it. since that time, nih found numerous violations of grant policies by ecohealth and has since blocked funding to the wuhan institute of virology and suspended and proposed blocking nih funding to ecohealth as an institution and dr. peter daszak individually. in a may letter to ecohealth alliance and its president, dr. peter daszak, hhs lists 30 pieces of evidence some dating back to 2013 to support its decision. hhs said in a memo that ecohealth failed to “adequately monitor” virus growth experiments at the wuhan institute of virology, notify the nih that viruses studied there “appeared to grow beyond permissible thresholds” laid out in a grant or provide requested information in a timely manner. in a statement last month, a spokeperson for ecohealth alliance said the organization was “disappointed by hhs’ decision” and that it would contest the decision. in his closing statement, ranking member raul ruiz thanked dr. anthony fauci for his testimony and for his decades of service to the nation in dealing with various epidemics and pandemics. he also blasted republicans for pushing extreme narratives for political gain. “over the past four years you have been personally targeted by extreme narratives of the origins of the covid 19 pandemic and the us governments response to it,” ruiz said. “these extreme narratives have been the bedrock of this subcommittees republican led probe and have been undermined by what’s been found through interviews and by thousands of documents that have been reviewed.” ruiz added that the evidence found that “dr. fauci did not fund research through the ecohealth alliance grant that caused the covid 19 pandemic, dr. fauci did not lie about gain of function research in wuhan china, dr. fauci did not orchestrate a campaign to suppress the lab leak theory.” subcommittee chair brad wenstrup also thanked fauci for coming voluntarily to testify. he went on to say that the hearing was an opportunity to learn more about the government’s covid 19 response and how the government can improve and do better. he said that while there some things that were done well, there were some wrongdoings in the office where fauci served. wenstrup highlighted that moving forward, clarity is important in order to improve messaging. “i think what i’m most concerned about as we go forward as a country and from our agencies is that we an be trusted and that we are better in our messaging and talk about clarity,” wenstrup said. when evaluating the united states’ handling of the covid 19 pandemic, public health officials will take a closer look at “the cost benefit ratio” of things like vaccine mandates, dr. anthony fauci said. fauci was answering a question about whether issuing mandates could have led to vaccine hesitancy. “that’s something that i think we need to go back now, when we do an after the event evaluation about whether or not given the psyche of the country and the pushback that you get from those types of things   we need to reevaluate the cost benefit ratio of those types of things,” fauci said. earlier in the hearing, fauci defended the government’s use of vaccines as saving “hundreds of thousands of lives in the united states and millions of lives throughout the world. dr. anthony fauci said there are still some things the united states needs to work on to be more prepared for another pandemic in the aftermath of covid 19. the former director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases (niaid) said in “some respects” the country is better prepared to deal with a health crisis than in 2020, “but in others, i am still disappointed.” fauci was answering a question from florida democratic rep. jared moskowitz, who served as the director of the florida division of emergency management during the pandemic. the lawmaker said he felt that states were not ready to deal with covid 19. “i think one of the things that was really a problem with the response was the degree of divisiveness that we had in the country about a lack of a coherent response where we were having people, for reasons that had nothing to do with public health or science, refusing to adhere to public health intervention measures,” fauci said. one thing that he hopes the us will do better moving forward is tightening communication between the federal response and local public health officials. he said there was a “disconnect between the healthcare system and the public health system” during covid 19 in the us. specifically, the centers for disease control (cdc) could not demand information from local agencies, which caused a lag in sharing data. “we were at a disadvantage,” fauci said, adding that the cdc is working on ways to fix this pain point. california democratic rep. robert garcia, who said both of his parents died from covid 19, thanked dr. anthony fauci for putting in policies that saved lives during the pandemic. garcia said his mother was a health care worker and she and his step father both died from covid 19. “i lost both of my parents during the pandemic, so i take this very personally,” he said, condemning other lawmakers “who are tasked to be responsible and actually help the american people” attack medical professionals, garcia said. the comments came after heated remarks from republican rep. marjorie taylor greene who criticized mask mandates and called for fauci to be put in prison. “your quote unquote so called science that the gentlewoman is referring to has saved millions of lives in this country and around the world,” garcia said. “it’s important to note that my opinion is that you are an american hero and your team has done more to save lives than all 435 members of this body on both sides of the aisle.” gop chairman brad wenstrup had to remind georgia republican rep. marjorie taylor greene to be respectful after she insisted that she would not refer to dr. anthony fauci by the title of doctor and would only refer to him as “mr. fauci.” “you’re not doctor, you’re mr. fauci in my few minutes,” greene said. in response, wenstrup ordered greene to address fauci as a doctor. “i have instructed her to address him as doctor,” wenstrup said. “i’m not addressing him as doctor,” she shot back. several democratic lawmakers jumped in to criticize greene over her refusal to address fauci as a doctor. wenstrup then asked members to “afford all other members the respect they are entitled” and to “refrain from using rhetoric that could be construed as an attack on the motives or character of another member or the witness.” dr. anthony fauci testified monday that he has not used his personal email to conduct business, and he was not aware before a congressional investigation that a former senior adviser at the national institutes of health had used unofficial email. “what you saw, i believe, with dr. morens was aberrancy and an outlier,” fauci testified on monday, referring to a former senior adviser at nih. “the individuals at the nih and niaid are a very committed group of individuals and this one instance that you point out is an aberrancy and an outlier.” the house oversight select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic previously released a series of private emails that republican members of the committee argue show that some nih officials deleted emails and tried to get around requirements to disclose information through public records laws. in a memo published at the end of may, committee members said dr. david morens, a former senior adviser to fauci, engaged in “nefarious behavior.” the committee points to email that morens sent another colleague that suggests he would send email to fauci’s private account and “there is no worry about foias.” foia is the freedom of information act, the law that gives the public the right to obtain federal records, including emails sent within government agencies. morens’ email goes on to say that he can also hand information to fauci to avoid it being a part of the public record. “he is too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble,” morens said in a 2021 email to peter daszak, the president of ecohealth alliance, a nonprofit virus research organization linked to controversy about the origins of the virus that causes covid 19. the us department of health and human services suspended funding to the group in may. anthony fauci detailed the threats he received during his time as the director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases, describing death threats against him and threats against his wife and daughters. democratic rep. debbie dingell asked fauci to explain what some of the threats were, where he replied: “everything from harassments from emails, texts, letters of myself, my wife, my three daughters. there have been credible death threats leading to the arrest of two individuals   and credible death threats means someone who clearly was on their way to kill me. and it’s required my having protective services essentially all the time,” fauci said. “it is very troublesome to me, it is much more troublesome because they’ve involved my wife and three daughters,” he added. fauci said he feared that the threats against public health workers during the covid 19 pandemic would serve as a “powerful disincentive” for the best and brightest candidates to take up the profession. “they say to themselves, ‘i don’t want to go there. why should i get involved in that?’” he said. “they’re reluctant to put themselves and their family through what they see their colleagues being put through,” he testified. dr. anthony fauci clarified that the 6 foot guidance for social distancing given during the beginnings for the covid 19 pandemic did not come from him, but from the centers for disease control (cdc). “it actually came from the cdc. the cdc was responsible for those kinds of guidelines to schools, not me,” fauci said. fauci, who repeated the guidance during the pandemic, once said that there was no science behind it   but he meant that there were no clinical trials to back it up. “it had little to do with me since i didn’t make the recommendation and my saying ‘there was no science behind it’ meant there was no clinical trial behind that,” fauci said. he added that he believed the cdc used studies about droplets years ago as reasoning for the 6 foot guidelines. more background: when the cdc first promoted the idea of 6 foot “social distancing” for people who had to be around others during the pandemic, scientists thought that larger contaminated droplets would fall out of the air quickly and couldn’t travel farther than 6 feet. at the time, the world health organization recommended that people keep a meter, or 3.3 feet, between them. but even as early as 2021, scientists were starting to understand that the coronavirus is airborne. cnn’s jen christensen contributed to this report. democratic congressman jamie raskin took a swipe at the republican party for their treatment of dr. anthony fauci by comparing how republicans treat fauci to how they have treated former president donald trump, though raskin did not mention trump by name. raskin apologized to fauci for the fact that “some of our colleagues in the united states house of representatives seem to want to drag your name through the mud. they’re treating you, dr fauci, like a convicted felon.” “actually you probably wish they were treating you like a convicted felon, they treat convicted felons with love and admiration. some of them blindly worship convicted felons,” raskin said. raskin’s comments allude to the recent finding of guilt against the former president in a criminal hush money case. raskin then asked fauci if he had anything he wanted to say for himself while appearing at the hearing, to which fauci defended the government’s use of vaccines as saving “hundreds of thousands of lives in the united states and millions of lives throughout the world.” in dr. anthony fauci’s testimony monday, he addressed what he said were “certain issues that have been seriously distorted concerning me,” particularly around the origin of the virus that led to the covid 19 pandemic. fauci testified that in early 2020, he was informed through phone calls with two scientists   jeremy farrar, then the director of the wellcome trust in the uk and kristian andersen, a scientist at scripps research institute   that they and others were concerned that the virus that causes covid 19 could have been manipulated in the lab. the day after those calls, fauci said he participated in a conference call with several international virologists to discuss manipulation in the lab or possible spillover from animals to humans. he characterized the discussion as “lively,” with arguments on both sides. fauci said he did not try to steer the discussion in any direction. fauci said the virologists on the joint call decided to more carefully examine the genomic sequence and after further examination, fauci said, “several who at first were concerned about lab manipulation became convinced that the virus was not deliberately manipulated.” scientists found the most likely scenario, fauci said, was a virus that transferred from an animal to a human, “although they still kept an open mind,” fauci said. “the accusation being circulated that i influenced the scientists to change their minds by bribing them with millions of dollars in grant money is absolutely false, and simply preposterous,” fauci said, noting he had no input into the content on a paper published in march 2020 that discussed the possible origins of the virus. in the year since the virus emerged, some of the world’s leading scientists have investigated the origins of the virus, including a committee of experts from the world health organization. most scientists believe that the virus spread from animals to humans in china. some studies have also said that the theory that the virus escaped from a chinese lab, the wuhan institute of virology, cannot be ruled out. most us intelligence agencies say the virus was not genetically engineered, but it is still not totally clear how the pandemic started. a us intelligence analysis released last year said either origin was possible, and the community remains split on the issue. the us department of energy assessed last year that it had “low confidence” in the lab leak theory. no us federal agency believes that the virus that causes covid 19 was created as a bioweapon. “i cannot account nor can anyone account for other things that might be going on in china, which is the reason why i have always said and will say now, i keep an open mind as to what the origin is,” fauci said monday. dr. anthony fauci used part of his opening statement to push back against a claim that he may have used his personal email for official business. fauci addressed the accusation made in a majority staff memorandum from may 24. “let me state for the record that to the best of my knowledge i have never conducted business via my personal email,” fauci said. fauci reiterated that he did not use his personal email for official purposes when asked by republican rep. james comer. dr. anthony fauci has now been sworn in to the house subcommittee hearing. as former director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases (niaid), he will testify about the us government’s response to the covid 19 outbreak. in his testimony, fauci will tell lawmakers “misinformation and disinformation” led to “considerable and understandable” public confusion as part of his opening statement before their panel monday. this is the first congressional testimony from fauci since he retired from his position. ranking member raul ruiz said republican members of the subcommittee abdicated their duty to objectively investigate the origins of covid 19 for political gain and shift blame. “nearly a year and half into house republicans’ extreme and chaotic majority, i believe we need to take stock of what the select subcommittee has accomplished or whether it has meaningfully improved our preparedness for the next public health threat in our nation,” the democratic representative from california said. under the guise of investigating the origins of covid 19, “house republicans have abdicated their responsibility to objectively examine how covid 19 came to be” and instead weaponized the concern the origins of a lab related origin to fuel sentiment against our nation’s scientists and public health officials for partisan gain, ruiz added. he said that dr. anthony fauci became the republicans’ target saying, “they did so with one particular health official in mind, dr. anthony fauci” to deflect blame way from former president donald trump. in his opening remarks, republican chair brad wenstrup criticized dr. anthony fauci for what he claimed was a failure to listen to science. “while policy and decisions should have been based on scientific data, some, frankly, were not,” he said. one decision wenstrup claimed was not based in science was the six foot social distancing rule. “the burdensome six foot social distancing rule did not have sufficient scientific report. in your words, ‘it just sort of appeared.’ distancing made sense, but the six feet was arbitrary,” wenstrup said noting that the rule prompted schools and workplaces to shut down. “americans do not hate science. but americans know hypocrisy when they see it,” wenstrup said in his opening remarks. “under your leadership, the united states health agencies adopted specific policy aims as a single dogmatic truth without the benefit of debate. out of desire for a single narrative,” he added. democratic members of the house select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic defended dr. anthony fauci ahead of monday’s hearing about the us’ covid 19 pandemic response, policies and transparency. the representatives blasted claims of fauci’s involvement in starting or covering up the pandemic as a “dangerous” and “cartoonish” narrative. “the select subcommittee has become an echo chamber of extreme narratives intended to vilify our nation’s public health officials. rather than tackling forward looking reforms to strengthen public health data collection, improve future testing and contact tracing capacity or address the inequities that we laid bare by the pandemic, our majority colleagues have spent time and taxpayer dollars fishing for evidence to back up their most extreme members’ claims about dr. fauci,” said democratic rep. raul ruiz, a ranking member on the panel. “this investigation of dr. fauci shows that he is an honorable public servant, committed to public health and he is not a comic book supervillain. he did not fund research to create the covid 19 pandemic. he did not lie to congress about gain of function research in wuhan. and he did not organize a lab leak suppression campaign to cover his tracks. these are outrageous concoctions, fabrications and distortions,” democratic rep. jamie raskin said. republican chair brad wenstrup apologized to dr anthony fauci, the former director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases for the threats he received over his response to the covid 19 pandemic. wenstrup opened the house subcommittee hearing into the us response to the covid 19 pandemic and the origins of the virus on monday morning. “i do want to say, i’m sorry about the threats you have received. as someone who has been shot at and received threats as well, my heart goes out to you. this shouldn’t happen in america,” he said. “regardless of whatever disagreements we may have, you chose to serve and i want to extend our appreciation and gratitude,” wenstrup added. dr. anthony fauci, the former director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases, will begin testifying shortly at a house hearing on the us’s covid 19 pandemic response and the origins of the virus. our reporters will bring you the latest updates as we get them here, but if you want to watch the hearing live, click on the play button at the top of this page. speaking to “cnn this morning” in april 2023, dr anthony fauci, the former head of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases gave his assessment of the country’s performance during the pandemic. “we thought we were the best prepared country in some respects from a scientific standpoint, as manifested by the overwhelming success of the rapid development of the vaccine, that we did very well. but when it came to the implementation of public health, the uniformity of a response, the communication, the ability to get data in real time, we really fell very short,” fauci said. on the whole, fauci said, he saw two big problems that caused the us to stumble as it tried to control covid 19. the first was the divisiveness of our politics, which led many conservatives to distrust public health recommendations to get vaccinated and wear masks in public. the second major problem, as he explained, is the fracturing of the us health care delivery system. read more from his interview here. dr. anthony fauci, who served as director of the national institutes of allergy and infectious diseases, will today testify at a house oversight and accountability committee hearing on capitol hill. it is the first time he has publicly testified since retiring from public office. the hearing will be led by republican chairman brad wenstrup. the coronavirus outbreak of 2019 was declared a worldwide pandemic by the world health organization (who) on march 11, 2020. the coronavirus, called covid 19 by the who, originated in china and is the cousin of the sars virus. coronaviruses are a large group of viruses that are common among animals. the viruses can make people sick, usually with a mild to moderate upper respiratory tract illness, similar to a common cold. coronavirus symptoms include a runny nose, cough, sore throat, possibly a headache and maybe a fever, which can last for a couple of days. by march 2023, covid 19 had killed at least 1.1 million people in the us, and infected more than 103.8 million. read more about the virus here. it may seem like a distant memory, but as a reminder, here’s how the covid 19 pandemic first unfolded: december 31, 2019   cases of pneumonia detected in wuhan, china, are first reported to who. during this reported period, the virus is unknown. the cases occur between december 12 and december 29, according to wuhan municipal health. january 1, 2020   chinese health authorities closed the huanan seafood wholesale market after it was discovered that wild animals sold there may be the source of the virus. january 5, 2020   china announces that the unknown pneumonia cases in wuhan are not sars or mers. in a statement, the wuhan municipal health commission says a retrospective probe into the outbreak has been initiated. january 7, 2020   chinese authorities confirm that they have identified the virus as a novel coronavirus, initially named 2019 ncov by who. january 20, 2020   china reports 139 new cases of the sickness, including a third death. on the same day, who’s first situation report confirms cases in japan, south korea and thailand. january 20, 2020   the national institutes of health announces that it is working on a vaccine against the coronavirus. “the nih is in the process of taking the first steps towards the development of a vaccine,” says dr. anthony fauci, who was the director of the national institutes of allergy and infectious diseases. january 21, 2020   officials in washington state confirm the first case on us soil. january 23, 2020   at an emergency committee, who says that the coronavirus does not yet constitute a public health emergency of international concern. february 6, 2020   first covid 19 death in the united states: a person in california’s santa clara county dies of coronavirus, but the link is not confirmed until april 21. february 26, 2020   trump places vice president mike pence in charge of the us government response to the novel coronavirus, amid growing criticism of the white house’s handling of the outbreak. february 29, 2020   a patient dies of coronavirus in washington state. for almost two months, this is considered the first death due to the virus in the united states, until autopsy results announced april 21 reveal two earlier deaths in california. march 11, 2020   who declares the novel coronavirus outbreak to be a pandemic. who says the outbreak is the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus. in an oval office address, trump announces that he is restricting travel from europe to the united states for 30 days in an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus. the ban, which applies to the 26 countries in the schengen area, applies only to foreign nationals and not american citizens and permanent residents who’d be screened before entering the country. march 13, 2020   trump declares a national emergency to free up $50 billion in federal resources to combat coronavirus. © 2025 cable news network. a warner bros. discovery company. all rights reserved. cnn sans ™ & © 2016 cable news network.

thank you for visiting nature.com. you are using a browser version with limited support for css. to obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in internet explorer). in the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and javascript. you can also search for this author in pubmed google scholar you can also search for this author in pubmed google scholar capitol hill, washington dc access nature and 54 other nature portfolio journals get nature+, our best value online access subscription $29.99 / 30 days cancel any time receive 51 print issues and online access $199.00 per year only $3.90 per issue rent or buy this article prices vary by article type from$1.95 to$39.95 prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout nature 630, 276 277 (2024) doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586 024 01657 6 correction 04 june 2024: an earlier version of this story said that anthony fauci sent an e mail to a prominent virologist in february 2020. the e mail was sent to a prominent scientist (jeremy farrar) and discussed a phone call that fauci had with a virologist (kristian andersen) discussing concerns about a lab leak. earlier, the story also said that davids morens’s hearing was on 23 may. it was on 22 may. andersen, k. g., rambaut, a., lipkin, w. i., holmes e. c. & garry, r. f. nature med. 26, 450 452 (2020). article pubmed google scholar download references reprints and permissions ‘he has saved countless lives’: us scientists on fauci leaving nih role fauci responds to musk’s twitter attack and rates world’s covid response us covid origins hearing puts scientific journals in the hot seat us covid origins hearing renews debate over lab leak hypothesis four lessons covid taught us about the immune system news 27 jan 25 controversial covid study that promoted unproven treatment retracted after four year saga news 18 dec 24 small molecule inhibition of sars cov 2 nsp14 rna cap methyltransferase article 11 dec 24 scientists globally are racing to save vital health databases taken down amid trump chaos news 07 feb 25 “we are a target”: scientific society under pressure after trump dei crackdown news 07 feb 25 exclusive: how nsf is scouring research grants for violations of trump’s orders news 03 feb 25 scientists globally are racing to save vital health databases taken down amid trump chaos news 07 feb 25 ‘it is chaos’: us funding freezes are endangering global health news 06 feb 25 top universities warned against unfair research partnerships on their doorstep nature index 05 feb 25 discovery of cellular and molecular mechanisms of tissue repair and regeneration. beijing, china the chinese institutes for medical research (cimr), beijing applications are sought for an assistant professor of bioengineering for the circular bio economy within the college of engineering and architecture dublin, leinster (ie) university college dublin applications are sought for an assistant professor of artificial intelligence in food engineering within the college of engineering and architecture. dublin, leinster (ie) university college dublin the moslehi lab is recruiting highly motivated candidates for a three year post doctoral fellowship san francisco, california ucsf   moslehi lab job title: associate or senior editor, nature health location(s): new york or shanghai   hybrid working application deadline: february 14, 2025 a... new york city, new york (us) springer nature ltd ‘he has saved countless lives’: us scientists on fauci leaving nih role fauci responds to musk’s twitter attack and rates world’s covid response us covid origins hearing puts scientific journals in the hot seat us covid origins hearing renews debate over lab leak hypothesis an essential round up of science news, opinion and analysis, delivered to your inbox every weekday. sign up for the nature briefing newsletter   what matters in science, free to your inbox daily. nature (nature) issn 1476 4687 (online) issn 0028 0836 (print) © 2025 springer nature limited
trump administration supported by dr. fauci testified before a house panel investigating covid’s origins. the panel found emails suggesting that his aides were skirting public records laws. by benjamin mueller and sheryl gay stolberg dr. anthony s. fauci, the former government scientist both celebrated and despised for his work on covid, on monday forcefully denied republican allegations that he had helped fund research that sparked the pandemic or had covered up the possibility it originated in a laboratory, calling the accusations “absolutely false and simply preposterous.” in an occasionally testy appearance before the house select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic, dr. fauci read aloud an email from february 2020 in which he urged a prominent scientist who was then suspicious about a lab leak “to determine if his concerns are validated” and if so, “very quickly” report them to the f.b.i. “it is inconceivable that anyone who reads this email could conclude that i was trying to cover up the possibility of a laboratory leak,” dr. fauci testified. monday’s session was the culmination of a 15 month inquiry that was billed as an investigation into the pandemic’s origins, but that has lately turned into a referendum on dr. fauci, an 83 year old immunologist who spent more than half a century as a government scientist and became the public face of the pandemic response under two presidents. democrats painted dr. fauci as an american hero, with representative debbie dingell, democrat of michigan, disparaging the republican led inquiry as “a witch hunt.” republicans blamed him for school closings, mask ordinances and other “invasive” policies. one, representative marjorie taylor greene of georgia, tore into dr. fauci, saying, “you belong in prison.” the republican led subcommittee is the only congressional panel charged with weighing the origins of the worst pandemic in a century and the american policy failures that made it so devastating. dr. fauci, the panel’s most prized quarry, was at the center of a covid response that left the country with far more deaths than many other wealthy nations.

 us infectious disease expert dr anthony fauci faced intense questioning from republican lawmakers in his first public appearance before congress since leaving his white house advisory role in 2022. for more than a year, he has faced scrutiny from republicans in the house select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic for his role in the pandemic response. in his monday testimony, dr fauci forcefully rejected allegations that he tried to hide information about the virus's origins, calling them "simply preposterous". the origins of the pandemic have been a matter of strong debate in the us. during the pandemic, dr fauci, who is now retired, became the face of the us covid 19 response and has been the subject of both praise and fierce criticism. before lawmakers on monday, he disputed claims there was any attempt to cover up evidence suggesting the virus may have leaked from a laboratory in wuhan, china. he read from an email he sent in february 2020 where he spoke about encouraging a colleague worried about a lab leak to examine the evidence "as soon as possible" and, if the concerns were valid, report the findings to the "appropriate authorities". he told the subcommittee: "it is inconceivable that anyone who reads this email could conclude that i was trying to cover up the possibility of a laboratory leak." during the sometimes heated hearing, republicans also pressed dr fauci on allegations that he used his personal email to conduct official business, which he denied.