Hearing Wrap Up: Dr. Fauci Held Publicly Accountable by Select Subcommittee – United States House Committee on … – House Committee on Oversight and…

WASHINGTON The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic held a hearing titled A Hearing with Dr. Anthony Fauci. This hearing is the first time Dr. Fauci has testified publicly since retiring from public service. Earlier this year, Dr. Fauci appeared in front of the Select Subcommittee for a closed-door, two-day, 14-hour transcribed interview where he testified to serious failures in Americas public health system. During Dr. Faucis public hearing, he confirmed previous, concerning testimony and refused to take responsibility for the actions of his office. Members questioned Dr. Fauci about his facilitation and promotion of a singular COVID-19 narrative, his clearly misleading statements before Congress and the public, and his gross mismanagement of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Dr. Fauci reaffirmed shocking testimony that the six feet apart social distancing recommendation that he promoted was arbitrary, not based on science, and sort of just appeared. Conclusively, the Select Subcommittee held Dr. Fauci publicly accountable for pandemic-era failures.

Key Hearing Takeaways

Member Highlights

Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), D.P.M, pushed Dr. Fauci to acknowledge that he agreed with every travel restriction issued by the Trump Administration at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Fauci testified during his transcribed interview that he unequivocally agreed with President Trumps decision to restrict travel from China, the EU, and the UK.

Chairman Wenstrup: Science is always open to debate, and its a benefit. The science supported restricting travel from certain countries at the beginning of the pandemic. And after these orders went into effect, the president was called racist and xenophobic. Dr. Fauci, you said in your transcribed interview that you supported those orders. Dr. Fauci, were those orders racist and xenophobic?

Dr. Fauci: No, they were not.

Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) confirmed that Dr. Faucis Senior Advisor repeatedly violated NIH policies by forwarding official information to his private email account and backchanneling confidential information to disgraced grant recipient EcoHealth. Dr. Fauci was either incompetent as to what was happening directly under his nose at the NIH or he condoned the misconduct.

Chairman Comer: Theres a troubling pattern of behavior from your inner circle, not just Dr. Morens, but also your chief of staff, Mr. Folkers. Do you agree that it violates NIAID policy to use personal email for official purposes?

Dr. Fauci: The Dr. Morens issue that was discussed by this committee violates NIH policy. Yes.

Chairman Comer: Okay. On April 28, 2020, Dr. Morens edited an EcoHealth press release regarding the grant termination. Does that violate policy?

Dr. Fauci: That was inappropriate for him to be doing that for a grantee, as a conflict of interest, among other things.

Chairman Comer: So on March 29, 2021, Dr. Morens edited a letter that Dr. Daszak was sending to NIH. Does that violate policy?

Dr. Fauci: Yes, it does.

Chairman Comer: On October 25th, 2021, Dr. Morens provided Dr. Daszak with advice regarding how to mislead NIH on EcoHealths late progress report. Does that violate policy?

Dr. Fauci: That was wrong and inappropriate and violated policy.

Chairman Comer: On December 7th, 2021, Dr. Morens wrote to the Chair of EcoHealths Board of Directors to put in a word for Dr. Daszak. Does that violate policy?

Dr. Fauci: He should not have done that. That was wrong.

Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), M.D., held Dr. Fauci accountable for promoting unscientific vaccine mandates from his position of power at the White House. Contrary to what was promised, the COVID-19 vaccine did not stop the spread or transmission of the virus.

Rep. McCormick: You said in an interview that you gave us part of an audio book, written by Michael Specter, that you believed an institution should make it hard for people to live their lives so theyd feel pressured to get vaccinated. Can we run the audio clip on that, please?

Clip of Dr. Fauci, Summer 2021: I have to say that I dont see a big solution, other than some sort of mandatory vaccination. I know federal officials dont like to use that term. Once people feel empowered and protected legally, youre going to have schools, universities, and colleges are going to say, you want to come to this college buddy, youre going to get vaccinated. Lady, youre going to get vaccinated. Yeah, big corporations, like Amazon and Facebook and all of those others, are going to say you want to work for us, you get vaccinated. And its been proven that when you make it difficult for people in their lives, they lose their ideological bullshit and they get vaccinated.

Rep. McCormick: Thank you. Are all objections to COVID vaccinations ideological bullshit, Dr. Fauci?

Dr. Fauci: No, theyre not. And thats not what I was referring to.

Rep. McCormick: Well, in reference to making it hard for people to get education, traveling, working, Id say it very much was in context. And I take great offenseI think Americans take great offense to this. Thats exactly what you meant when you said making it hard for people to live without getting a vaccination. You affected peoples ability to work, travel, be educated, to actually flourish in America, to self-determine, as were all given God given rights. Shame on you. Dr. Fauci, you become Dr. Fear. Americans do not hate science. I dont hate science. The American people hate having their freedoms taken from them. You inspired and created fear through mask mandates, school closures, vaccine mandates that have destroyed the American peoples trust in our public health institutions. This fear you created will continue to have ripple effects over generations to come. You have already seen its effects in education, in the economy, and everything else. Quite frankly, you said if you disagree with me, you disagree with science. Dr. Fauci, I disagree with you because I disagree with fear.

Rep. John Joyce (R-Pa.), M.D., reaffirmed that the six feet apart social distancing guidance promoted by Dr. Fauci and his team was not based on science. Dr. Fauci attempted to evade accountability for his part in promoting this harmful narrative by blaming the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Rep. Joyce: What was your relationship with the CDC when you saw a regulation, which was not based in the current science?

Dr. Fauci: Well, when I say was not based in science, I meant a prospective clinical trial to determine whether six foot was better than three, was better than 10.

Rep. Joyce: But once we realized that the virus was not spread by droplets, and was aerosolized, did you feel an indication to go back to the CDC and say, lets base this on science. Lets get rid of this six foot rule. This six foot rule crippled businesses, it allowed students to stay at home and not learn. Americans suffered, and that suffering continues because the fracture of trust in American scientists continues to this day.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) questioned Dr. Fauci on the Biden Administrations efforts to censor dissenting information on social media about the origins of COVID-19. Evidence uncovered by the Judiciary Committee suggests that Facebook felt pressure from the Biden Administration to downplay the lab leak theory.

Rep. Jordan: In our study on the censorship of the Biden Administration working with big tech, I want to read you a WhatsApp message from Mark Zuckerberg: Can we include that the White House put pressure on us to censor the lab leak theory. So, this is a communication on July 16th, 2021, Nick Clegg, Joel Kaplan, Sheryl Sandberg, Mark Zuckerberg. Theyre certainly feeling the pressure to downplay any lab leak theory and go with the natural origin theory.

Dr. Fauci: Is there a question there?

Rep. Jordan: Theres one coming. Heres another email to Mark Zuckerberg. It says subject line COVID Misinformation Wuhan lab leak theory. In response to continued public pressure and tense conversations with the new Administration, we started removing five COVID claims, including the lab leak theory. Mr. Zuckerberg responds, This seems like a good reminder that when we compromise our standards due to pressure from an administration, in either direction, we often later regret it. Why was it so important the virus not have started in a lab?

Dr. Fauci: It wasnt so important that the virus, not, we dont know.

Rep. Jordan: Well it was important to someone in the Biden Administration. So much so that the top people at Meta, the top people at Facebook are asking, why are we getting all this pressure to downplay the lab leak theory? And we have an email from June of the same year, June 4th, 2021, saying the same thing. It was certainly important to somebodyIm asking you because youre the expert on the coronavirus. Im saying why was the Administration pushing not to have the lab leak theory as something that was viable?

Dr. Fauci: I cant answer that. Ive kept an open mind throughout the entire

Rep. Jordan: Youve kept an open mind, Dr. Fauci, open mind?

Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) confirmed that Dr. Fauci sent taxpayer dollars to dangerous biolabs in Wuhan, China without reading or sufficiently reviewing the grant proposals. Dr. Fauci simply signed off on every grant that was placed on his desk.

Rep. Cloud: My understanding from your testimony to us, it says that the NIH process for awarding grants is that, basically a research proposal goes to a peer review committee to receive a priority score. Then it goes to an advisory council for NIH personnel. It receives a final vote. Basically, the group votes on it, and then eventually it ends up on your desk for signature. Right? Now, you said in that that sometimes, if I recall correctly, those grants are often approved in block, in mass, when theyre voted on. And then you sign off on them.

Dr. Fauci: Thats correct.

Rep. Cloud: This is one of the things thats really troubling to the American people, because they look at their lives being destroyed, and there is no one to hold accountable because these systems of accountability have become systems of plausible deniability. And so your name is on every single grant, but yet, you absolve yourself of any sort of responsibility by saying, well, you know, it goes to this committee thats you know, that has a number of people on it. And theyre approved in block. And so theres no accountability for anything, any of the taxpayer dollars that are going forth.

Dr. Fauci: I disagree with you, Congressman, because if you look at the number of grants, we fund thousands of grants. It would be physically impossible for me to go through every single grant in a detailed way to understand that. That is true, not only for me, but for virtually every institute at the NIH.

Rep. Cloud: Then why does your signature go on it?

Dr. Fauci: Because somebody has to sign off on it and you trust the expertise, and the competence, of the staff that go over it

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Hearing Wrap Up: Dr. Fauci Held Publicly Accountable by Select Subcommittee - United States House Committee on ... - House Committee on Oversight and...