(DCWatchdog.com) – In a monstrous affront to this nation and basic human decency, Dr. Antony Fauci, who dictated much of the repressive pandemic policies, now claims that he cannot “recall” vital pieces of information and events connected with the COVID-19 origins and the US government’s measures.
In a closed-door testimony at the US House of Representatives, the now-retired Fauci, a central figure in the US response to the pandemic, said over 100 times he couldn’t remember key details, National Review reports.
House Coronavirus Select Subcommittee Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) expressed concern in a statement over the testimony given by the former chief White House medical adviser and former head of the National Institute on Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health.
“The face of our nation’s response to the world’s worst public health crisis ‘does not recall’ key details about COVID-19 origins and pandemic-era policies,” the GOP lawmaker said.
He highlighted the significant impact of the pandemic, which resulted in nearly 1.2 million American deaths.
Fauci, who served as the NIAID director for 38 years and as chief medical advisor under both the Trump and Biden administrations until his retirement on December 31, 2022, agreed in late November to testify privately before Wenstrup’s subcommittee over two days.
During Monday’s seven-hour interview, Fauci defended his Senate testimony, where he had denied the National Institutes of Health’s funding of gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
This institute conducted studies on bat coronaviruses, suspected of being linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Like his exchanges with Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), Fauci contested Congress’s definition of “gain-of-function” to counter the accusation that NIH-funded research might have sparked the pandemic.
Fauci acknowledged that he approved foreign and domestic NIAID grants without reviewing the proposals.
He also admitted his inability to confirm whether NIAID has oversight procedures for the foreign labs it funds.
“Dr. Fauci’s testimony today uncovered drastic and systemic failures in America’s public health systems. While leading the nation’s COVID-19 response and influencing public narratives, he simultaneously had no idea what was happening under his own jurisdiction at NIAID,” Wenstrup emphasized.
Additionally, Fauci revised his stance upon being shown a February 2020 email he had sent to NIH officials. In this email, he mentioned the gain-of-function research in China, which he later said he should not have labeled as “fact.”
Wenstrup plans to question Fauci further about mask and lockdown mandates, his policy positions on these restrictions, and his involvement in the March 2020 “Proximal Origin” scientific paper that aimed to refute the lab-leak theory.
