House Republicans concluded interviews with Anthony Fauci on Tuesday, saying the former White House COVID-19 policy adviser discussed weaknesses in the policies implemented on his watch during the pandemic and future preparedness for infectious disease outbreaks.
“We found out a lot of things over the last couple of days,” Chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) told the Washington Examiner shortly after the close of Tuesday’s session. “When we get the transcript, we’ll see a lot of his quotes, and I think he was being honest.”
Ranking member Raul Ruiz (D-CA) issued a statement Tuesday evening urging the majority to make the full transcript of the 14 hours’ worth of testimony public as soon as possible “so that the American public can see through this extreme fishing expedition for themselves.”
Ruiz was not in attendance for Monday’s transcribed interview and was only present for one of seven hours of testimony on Tuesday.
When asked about the time frame of releasing the transcripts, Wenstrup said that it would be necessary for lawyers from both sides of the aisle, along with Fauci’s attorneys, to review the documents prior to release to the public.
Wenstrup, who has said his subcommittee’s work is an “after-action review” to prepare for future pandemics, said the former adviser to Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden recognized areas for improvement.
Wenstrup told the Washington Examiner that Fauci “admitted that the mandate could increase vaccine hesitancy.”
“I can’t get into his mind, but I think he felt it was the right thing to do because he thought it would save lives,” Wenstrup said of the vaccination mandates imposed by the federal government during the pandemic, “but he basically was saying the lesson learned [was it] didn’t get into the psyche of America.”
The Washington Examiner requested comment from Fauci from his current employer, Georgetown University.
Vaccination rates for a variety of respiratory and other infectious diseases have markedly decreased since 2021, sparking alarm among public health officials and physicians like Wenstrup, who also co-chairs the GOP Doctor’s Caucus.
“We have a problem in our country, and now people don’t want to get any vaccines,” Wenstrup said. “The mRNA vaccine is different. The messaging was never really good, and I don’t think America ever felt like they were being educated. They were getting indoctrinated”.
Along similar lines, Wenstrup sai Fauci told the committee members that the 6-foot limitation for social distancing “was not really based on any data” but “just sort of happened.”
Wenstrup said one of the largest takeaways from the two-day process is that there is “not a lot of accountability and responsibility.”
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“We need to identify where the problems are and develop a construct that’s going to make more sense,” Wenstrup said. “The trust is broken.”
After serving at the National Institutes of Health since 1968, Fauci retired from public service in December 2022. He joined the medical school and public policy faculty at Georgetown in July 2023.