Will the Justice Department protect Fauci too?
Hudson Crozier
Video Embed
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) made a criminal referral to the Justice Department about Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. This came after the release of an email put another hole in Fauci’s highly suspicious narrative surrounding research that may have created COVID-19.
Fauci’s 2020 email addressed the growing “suspicion” that the virus came from a lab accident in Wuhan, China. He acknowledged to other National Institutes of Health officials “that scientists in Wuhan University are known to have been working on gain-of-function experiments” related to coronaviruses in bats. Wuhan University and the Wuhan Institute of Virology conducted such research with EcoHealth Alliance, a group that Fauci’s NIAID paid to study bat viruses in China.
BEST WAY TO STOP CHILD LABOR IS TO SECURE THE BORDER
Fauci has repeatedly told Congress under oath that his agency never funded “gain-of-function research” in Wuhan. Paul understandably believes Fauci contradicted himself, committing perjury.
What is undisputed is that, before the pandemic, the NIAID funded organizations that conducted risky coronavirus research. Fauci has quarreled with Paul over the precise meaning of “gain-of-function,” which scientists disagree on. But the email shows him acknowledging that Wuhan University was “known” for this type of work.
The NIH has previously claimed it did not specifically approve the dangerous research at the time it awarded funds and that the scientists went off track. That would seem to align with a government report which found that the NIH did not provide oversight of the work.
By now, Fauci is no longer able to deny the financial relationship or even bicker over research definitions. The only defense he has left amounts to more semantics. Playing devil’s advocate, one could only assume he was telling Congress that he didn’t “fund” dangerous research. He just allowed the NIAID to give money to people without keeping track of what they did, and that led to dangerous research.
Given the obvious intent of Congress’s line of questioning, this still could not reasonably be considered honest testimony. It also does not dispel concerns that the United States might bear responsibility for a COVID lab leak.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
It’s incredible that the Justice Department has not tried to get to the bottom of this, especially since Paul has demanded it since July 2021. Then again, as someone favored by Democrats, Fauci could be enjoying the same special treatment as Hunter Biden.
Hudson Crozier is a summer 2023 Washington Examiner fellow.