Staff Reports
House Republicans took former NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci to the woodshed during the first day of grilling to expose the negligent mishandling of research funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) wasted no time in exposing Fauci’s cluelessness and incompetence, revealing shocking failures in America’s public health systems under Fauci’s leadership while he was busy hogging the spotlight and pushing his own narrative on the COVID-19 response.
Fauci, who held the reins at the National Institutes of Health for a whopping 35 years, has been a prime target for Republicans as they investigate the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the culprit behind the COVID-19 pandemic. The subcommittee’s Republicans had previously called Fauci out for his involvement in a paper that downplayed the theory of the virus originating in the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which had indirect funding from the NIH.
House Republicans say 'drastic failures' uncovered in first day of Fauci interview – Washington Examiner https://t.co/e4ZJ9WLrzX
— Fearless45 (@Fearless45Trump) January 9, 2024
According to Wenstrup, Fauci sheepishly admitted that he rubber-stamped foreign and domestic research grants without even bothering to review the proposals during his lengthy tenure at the NIH. The cherry on top? Fauci couldn’t even muster up an explanation for how the NIAID could exercise oversight over foreign labs getting cash from Uncle Sam. It’s mind-boggling to comprehend how an agency head could be so disengaged from the very research he was supposed to be overseeing!
The ranking Democrat on the committee, Raul Ruiz (D-CA), predictably tried to downplay the whole affair, dismissing it as a political sideshow. Hey, maybe he needs a refresher in accountability and transparency in public health leadership! Ruiz and his allies would rather gaslight the nation into “examining lessons learned” to mask Fauci’s blunders, rather than confronting the inconvenient truth of his failings.
The second round of questioning promises to delve into Fauci’s role in pushing mask mandates, lockdowns, and vaccine requirements, a job well done by Chairman Wenstrup and his team to hold Fauci’s feet to the fire. It’s high time the American people get the answers they deserve about the handling of the worst public health crisis in modern history. Let’s hope day two of this grilling can finally shed some light on Fauci’s fumbling response to the pandemic, a response that cost the lives of far too many Americans.
