Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and top advisor to two US presidents during the COVID-19 pandemic, “surprised” the chairman of a House subcommittee with “how much that he doesn’t know.” I don’t remember” about the early days of the outbreak that killed more than 1.1 million Americans.
Fauci, 83, had been “very cooperative” on the first day of his two-day transcribed interview with the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) told reporters. ).
“We’re talking a lot about the development of the research process, the grants, the oversight, so to speak, of the regulations and possible solutions for a better path in the future,” Wenstrup said of the interview, which he had joked that La tomorrow would cover “more than 200 pages of questions and approximately 100 tests.”
Wenstrup had also promised in a statement that panel members will “demand explanations for any pandemic-era failures” and “Fauci’s role as the face of the US public health response to COVID-19,” predicting that The former NIH official’s testimony “will shed light on issues that no Committee, Member, or media outlet has asked about before.”
“This is an opportunity for Dr. Fauci to explain his policy positions on COVID-19. “His close, honest and transparent testimony over the next two days is critical to improving our nation’s future public health responses,” the lawmaker said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci declined to answer reporters’ questions Monday as he arrived at the Capitol to be questioned by House lawmakers about his role in the U.S. response to COVID-19. Getty Images The two-day, 14-hour testimony will cover “more than 200 pages of questions,” said House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio). fake images
Wenstrup’s subcommittee has focused in particular on efforts by Fauci and former National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins to silence dissent over the so-called “lab leak theory” of the origins of the COVID-19, obtaining internal communications from top health officials. that revealed that they had prompted scientists to write an article in the journal Nature Medicine debunking the theory in early 2020.
The COVID panel also cited one of Fauci’s top advisers in October for having “likely used his personal email to delete COVID source documents and evade [Freedom of Information Act] laws.”
Fauci and Collins denied in testimony before Congress that the NIH had funded risky gain-of-function research in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, where the pandemic began in late 2019.
Fauci, 83, ignored the Post’s questions as Capitol Police escorted him to a courtroom for his first transcribed interview since he retired from public service. fake images
The Government Accountability Office issued a report in June 2023 that found the NIH had contributed more than $1.4 million to Chinese research institutions between 2014 and 2019 despite serious biosafety concerns, including at the Institute of Virology. from Wuhan.
That research “included genetic experiments to combine naturally occurring bat coronaviruses with SARS and MERS viruses, resulting in hybridized (also known as chimeric) coronavirus strains,” the report states, and has since had its funding cut off.
Wenstrup said Monday night that Fauci had given a “new definition” of “operational” gain-of-function research, a phrase that often describes experiments that make viruses more contagious and virulent.
“I don’t know if all the scientists who deal with this type of viral research understand its definition,” the lawmaker said of Fauci.
“You need to define your definition of gain-of-function research because, as I’ve read during this process over the last three years, many, many papers published on gain-of-function research or creating a chimera, This is new,” Wenstrup added.
“And it differs from what many other scientists use when reporting gain-of-function research.”
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) told reporters that Fauci had referred to his “operational” definition when discussing his high-profile clashes with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) over the issue in the 2021 hearings. .
“We are looking forward to this. We have been waiting for this day for a long time,” Wenstrup told the Post when he arrived. fake images
“I think it’s probably quite political for us to be here to begin with,” he told reporters outside the hearing room, but said the closed-door format would produce “a lot of responses.”
“This format doesn’t reproduce the cameras, it helps us get the facts and details,” Dingell said.
The House COVID subcommittee is also investigating the influence Fauci had on the US intelligence community over the origin of the pandemic after a whistleblower revealed that the NIAID director secretly visited CIA headquarters in an attempt to “influence” analysts who were then unable to determine whether SARS -CoV-2 leaked from a laboratory or was transmitted from animals to humans.
Fauci declined to answer the Post’s questions about the whistleblower’s claim when he arrived for his interview Monday morning. He didn’t stop talking either and left the interview room shortly after 7 p.m.
A June 2023 government report found that the NIH contributed more than $1.4 million to Chinese research institutions between 2014 and 2019, despite biosafety concerns, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology. AFP via Getty Images
Wenstrup also said he will ask Fauci about misleading information the government gave about natural immunity to the coronavirus, his “changing position on mask mandates, including for children,” and the decision to close schools and impose business closures during the pandemic. pandemic.
Additionally, he said, Fauci will be questioned for accepting royalties and failing to disclose potential conflicts of interest during his nearly four-decade tenure as a public health official.
The former NIAID director, who has said he donates all royalties, was at one point the highest-paid government official in the United States and had a net worth of $11.5 million when he left government service in December 2022.
Fauci declined to answer the Post’s questions about his influence over American politics during COVID. fake images
Rep. Raúl Ruiz (D-Calif.), a ranking member of the select subcommittee who criticized Wenstrup’s approach in previous hearings, did not attend the proceedings.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), who also serves on the House COVID select subcommittee, told reporters that no one directly asked Fauci if the U.S. was funding the Wuhan Institute of Virology, but she hoped he would. Tuesday’s questions will focus on that topic.
“Dr. [Robert] Redfield came to our committee and specifically said that not only did the NIH funds come to the Wuhan lab, but that [funding from] USAID, Department of State, Department of Defense” did too, Malliotakis said, referring to the former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“And the question is why? What were they using that money for? Were they doing gain of function research? Did anyone contribute to the development of this virus?
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Source: vtt.edu.vn