Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institution of Allergy and Infectious Disease, will testify publicly before a congressional panel in June, marking the first time he has done so since retiring from government at the end of 2022.
Fauci has agreed to testify before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, a House panel investigating the origins of COVID-19 and the government’s response to the pandemic, subcommittee Chair Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, announced Wednesday.Â
Wenstrup said the hearing will allow Americans to hear directly from Fauci about Fauci’s role in overseeing and shaping pandemic-era polices and promoting “singular questionable narratives” about the origins of COVID-19.
Fauci appeared in front of the Select Subcommittee for a closed-door, two-day, 14-hour transcribed interview earlier this year.
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Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies to a House Committee on Appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies hearing in May 2022 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
“During Dr. Fauci’s closed-door interview in January, he testified to serious systemic failures in our public health system that deserve further investigation, including his testimony that the ‘6 feet apart’ social distancing guidance — which was used to shut down small businesses and schools across America — ‘sort of just appeared,’” Wenstrup said.Â
“This raises significant concerns about public health officials and the validity of their policy recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also learned that he believes the lab leak hypothesis he publicly downplayed should not be dismissed as a conspiracy theory. As the face of America’s public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, these statements raise serious questions that warrant public scrutiny.”
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A hallway with social distance stickers is seen in a California high school during the pandemic. Dr. Anthony Fauci gave guidance on social distancing policies. (Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)
Wenstrup said that the panel will also hold a public hearing with EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak on May 1 that will serve as a crucial component into the origins of COVID-19 and provide essential background ahead of Fauci’s public hearing.
Fauci was a leading figure on both former President Trump and President Biden’s coronavirus response teams. Before his retirement, he had worked for over 50 years in the American public health sector, advising every president since former President Reagan.Â
Fauci was a regular guest on cable news, primetime television, late-night shows and podcasts, offering his medical advice throughout the pandemic. Over time, he became a politically divisive figure on the left and right regarding issues such as masks and lockdown policies.
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Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has clashed with Dr. Anthony Fauci in the past. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Famously, he sparred with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., in committee hearings over the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and whether his department within the National Institute of Health funded gain-of-function research.
Paul has claimed that recently discovered government officials from 15 federal agencies knew in 2018 that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was trying to create a coronavirus like COVID-19.  Â
These officials, Paul says, knew that the Chinese lab was proposing to create a COVID 19-like virus and not one of those officials revealed this scheme to the public.
