Marjorie Taylor Greene says Fauci should be jailed and rails against ‘evil science’ at Covid hearing

Infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci is facing questions from the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on Monday — marking his first Congressional testimony as a non-government official since stepping down in 2022.

Dr Fauci led the US’s response the Covid-19 pandemic, a role that earned him both praise and scrutiny alike. He is expected to face grilling from Congressional Republicans over the origins of the virus as well as transparency around government agency communications and records.

The former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is sitting for his first congressional testimony in almost two years.

The GOP-led subcommittee has requested access to Dr Fauci’s personal email and phone records after obtaining information, which, they say, calls into question whether he may have attempted to conceal some records.

Dr Fauci is appearing voluntarily on Monday. He has said that he has “nothing to hide.”

The divide between the Democrats and Republicans approach to the hearing is striking. One Democrat called this effort a “waste of time” while Republicans have pressed Fauci about conspiracies that have cropped up about the origins of Covid, including the lab leak theory and Fauci’s alleged ‘cover up’.

Key points

• Fauci faces grilling by House Republicans over Covid-19 response

• Rep Jamie Raskin slams Republicans for ‘bowing to convicted felon’ Trump

• Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene verbally berates Fauci

Hearing kicks off

15:16 , Kelly Rissman

Dr Fauci sits for his first Congressional testimony in two years — and his first time as a non-government official.

The hearing began at 10am.

Chair Brad Wenstrup is kicking off the meeting, asking “Why did you allow your office to be unaccountable to the American people?”

“Whether intentional or not, you became so powerful, that any disagreements that the public had with you were hidden or censored on social....This is why many Americans became so angry. Because this was fundamentally un-American,” Congressman Wenstrup said.

Ranking Member Raul Ruiz speaking

15:24 , Kelly Rissman

Ranking member, Democratic Congressman Raul Ruiz, is now speaking. He immediately offered support to Dr Fauci.

After setting the stage, discussing how Dr Fauci has been villified by Republicans, the ranking member said the select subcommittee has not possessed a “shred of evidence” to substantiate these “extreme allegations” against Dr Fauci for the last four years.

He then said, “baselessly suggesting without evidence that these discrete instances of misconduct” are equivalent to public health officials “causing” the pandemic is “also a betrayal of public trust.”

Congressman Ruiz said he hopes Congress can prioritize looking into “solutions to better prepare us for the next pandemic” rather than politicizing certain public health officials.

Fauci is not a ‘comic book supervillain’: Raskin

15:28 , Kelly Rissman

Dr Ruiz gave his remaining time to Democratic Rep Jamie Raskin.

“The people who claimed the political big lie....bring you the medical big lie, making the outlandish claim that Dr Fauci was responsible for causing Covid-19.”

Records show Dr Fauci is an “honorable public servant” and not a “comic book supervillain.”

Republican Rep lays into Fauci as head of NIAID

15:32 , Kelly Rissman

Republican Rep Morgan Griffith is now speaking.

“It is hard to believe that all of this occurred without your knowledge or approval,” he said, referring to alleged “missing information.”

Research shows “how little oversight NIAID does of risky experiments involving potential pandemic pathogens,” the Republican Congressman added.

Democrat vs GOP views of the hearing becomes clear

15:35 , Kelly Rissman

Democrat Kathy Castor said, “This committee has wasted time and taxpayer money fueling conspiracy theoires and ignoring the importance of preparing for the next pandemic.”

“I regret that many of the conspiracies have smeared you, Dr Fauci,” she added.

Her comments echoed those of Ranking Member Ruiz, who also called for his Congressional colleagues to focus on preparing for the next pandemic rather than focusing on political differences.

“It’s not too late for Republicans to join us,” she said.

Fauci sworn in

15:43 , Kelly Rissman

Dr Fauci read his written statement.

“Thank you for this opportunity to testify,” he began. He said he has been at the NIH for 54 years and was director of the NIAID for 38 years.

He addressed “certain issues that have been seriously distorted concerning me,” the infectious disease expert continued.

He first mentioned the lab leak theory. “The accusation being circulated that I influenced these scientists to change their minds with millions of dollars in grant money is absolutely false and simply preposterous,” Dr Fauci said.

He then addressed the accusations that he allegedly tried to “cover up” the possibility that the virus originated from a lab.

“The truth is exactly the opposite,” he said matter-of-factly. He then read an email, adding, “It is inconceivable that anvone who reads this e-mail could conclude that I was trying to ‘cover up’ the possibility ofa laboratory leak. To the contrary, it demonstrates that I was advocating for a prompt and thorough examination ofthe data and a totally transparent process.”

Subcommittee chair starts off fiery

15:50 , Kelly Rissman

Chair Brad Wenstrup fires off a series of questions about someone that Dr Fauci said he didn’t know. “Does it concern you that US taxpayer dollars would be going to someone who is a high-ranking PLA official?”

Dr Fauci said he needed to know more information and said he repeated that he didn’t recognize the name of the person who allegedly received the medical grant.

Wenstrup has repeatedly cut off Fauci’s responses to his questions.

Fauci directly knocks a conspiracy theory

15:59 , Kelly Rissman

Rep Ruiz said after reviewing nearly half a million pages of documents, listening to witnesses, “they have come up empty handed for evidence of their extreme allegations that Dr Fauci lied about gain-of-function research and caused the Covid-19 pandemic.

He asked Dr Fauci if he was personally involved in the gain-of-function research. He responded that the research was done by experts below him.

“No evidence provided to this select subcommittee demonstrates that the work performed under NIH funding, including at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, led to the creation of Sars-CoV-2,” Ruiz said.

Fauci talked about the “evolution” of a virus. Those studied at the Wuhan Institute are “so far removed from Sars-CoV-2” that it is “molecularly impossible” for those viruses to have been “made into Sars-CoV-2.” It’s a “virological fact.”

Raskin blasts Trump during hearing

16:02 , Kelly Rissman

Raskin refers to Trump again

16:09 , Kelly Rissman

Raskin directly asked, “I’m sure you’ve never been accused of starting a disease before. Is that right?” Fauci agreed.

The Democratic Rep then addressed allegations that Fauci tried to “cover up” a lab leak before apologizing on behalf of his GOP colleagues for “dragging his name” through the mud.

“They are treating you like a convicted felon. You probably wish they were treating you like a convicted felon. They treat convicted felons with love and admiration,” Raskin said, referring to former president Donald Trump who was just found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records.

‘Six-foot distance’ cleared up

16:21 , Kelly Rissman

Rep Castor said that these subcommittees are meant to bring “light” to certain matters but unfortuantely in this circumstance, this subcommittee has “brought more heat than light.”

For five months, Republicans sat on Dr Fauci’s interview with the subcommittee from January.

Although they had an opportunity to release it before then, but decided to release the transcript this past week. “Republicans contorted and mischaracterized Dr Fauci’s words to gin up conspiracies about NIH’s role and the lead-up to the pandemic.” She gave Fauci an opportunity to clear up any parts of his 14-hour transcript that has been “cherry-picked,” as she put it.

He said the “issue of the six-foot distance” came from the CDC.

The transcript, released on May 31 despite the interview taking place months earlier, shows Dr Fauci explaining the six-foot distance recommendation saying, “You know, I don’t recall. It sort of just appeared. I don’t recall, like, a discussion of whether it should be 5 or 6 or whatever. It was just that 6 foot is—”

On Monday, he clarified, “What I meant by ‘no science behind it’ was that there was no controlled trial” comparing three feet versus 10 feet to six feet. “It had little to do with me...’no science behind it’ means there was no clinical trial.”

Fauci confirms that after decades as an infectious disease expert, he has never been accused of ‘starting’ a virus

16:30 , Kelly Rissman

‘Credible death threats'

16:32 , Kelly Rissman

Rep Debbie Dingell asked about the threats Dr Fauci has received since the start of the pandemic.

“Everything from harassment by emails, texts, letters of myself, my wife, my three daughters. There have been credible death threats leading to the arrest of two individuals...it has required my having protective services all the time,” Fauci said.

“It is very troublesome to me because they involve my wife and my three daughters,” he added, seemingly choking up.

He said he still gets death threats today.

“You deserve better....I’m afraid that the treatment you have received will have far-reaching consequences for the future of science, particularly when done for the public good,” Rep Dingell said.

“I think this is a powerful disincentive for young people to want to go into public health and maybe even science and medicine in the public arena,” Fauci said. He added that his colleagues who are less “visible” have also received threats.

‘Well, you don’t’ have emails

16:41 , Kelly Rissman

Fauci pushed back on the idea that he tried to “suppress” the “lab leak theory” in an article.

Republican Rep Lesko asked if he was asked to suppress the lab leak theory. He rejected that idea, adding “you said four or five things that were untrue.”

“We have emails to prove it,” she said.

Fauci said, “Well, you don’t.”

Democratic Rep Mfume then said “No, we don’t have it.”

Rep Mfume blasts GOP colleague

16:48 , Kelly Rissman

Maryland Rep Mfume called out Rep Malliotakis about asking Fauci about the “cruel animal tests”.

Fauci said that he wasn’t sure what that had to do with Covid. She called the experiments “not very humane.”

“If I might on a point of personal privilege to the gentlewoman from New York who wanted to argue that we should be worrying about testing human medicines on animals. If this committee really wants to do something, let’s talk about the most infamous biomedical research study in the United States: The Tuskegee study.”

The vaccine

16:55 , Kelly Rissman

Democratic Rep Deborah Ross asked Dr Fauci about the vaccine — one of the most contested aspects of the pandemic response.

Fauci said “the difference is profound” in the number of hospitalizations and deaths for those who were vaccinated compared to those who were not.

The vaccine “clearly saved many many lives,” Fauci said.

Rep Ross asked about addressing misinformation. “That’s difficult when you have a very energetic group of poeople spreaking mis and disinformation about vaccines,” Fauci replied.

The six-foot rule comes up again

17:02 , Kelly Rissman

The GOP has repeatedly pressed Fauci about the six-foot distance recommendation imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Earlier on Monday, Fauci explained that the six-foot rule came from the CDC.

Rep Joyce asked, “what was your relationship with the CDC when you saw a regulation that was not based in the current science?”

Fauci clarified that there wasn’t a clinical trial that concluded that six feet was more effective than three or 10 feet.

The Congressman asked, “This six-foot rule crippled businesses, it allowed children to stay at home and not learn...Did you not feel an obligation for something that ‘just sort of appeared’?”

It was a CDC decision, Fauci said.

Joyce asked whether he publicly challenged the CDC? Fauci said it’s “not appropriate” to publicly challenge the CDC.

MTG refuses to call Dr Fauci a doctor

17:07 , Kelly Rissman

GOP Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene began her fiery testimony by holding up posters with dogs being tested on.

She called experiments on animals were “disgusting and evil” and accused Fauci of “signing off” on these allegeed experiments on dogs.

“What do dogs have to do with anything we are here for today?” Fauci asked.

Greene then asked him a question ending him as “Mister Fauci.” She added, “You’re not Doctor. You’re Mister Fauci in these few minutes.”

She then called for his license to be revoked and that he should “be in prison!”

Chair Wenstrup enforced rules of decorum after Greene’s outburst.

She then took issue with the notion that GOP members “worship” Trump, but was interrupted by Chair Wenstrup yelling, “Gentlelady will suspend!”

Democrat apologizes for Rep Greene’s remarks

17:16 , Kelly Rissman

Democratic Rep Garcia immediately apologized for Ms Greene’s comments.

“You are an American hero,” he added.

In photos: Fauci voluntarily testifies

17:20 , Kelly Rissman

Raskin slams GOP for ‘bowing to convicted felon’ Trump

17:24 , Kelly Rissman

Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin has slammed Republicans for “bowing to convicted felon” Donald Trump after he told Americans to inject bleach to cure Covid-19 at the height of the pandemic.

Dr Anthony Fauci was called to testify before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic’s hearing on Monday, as House Republicans have sought to scrutinize his role as one of the chief faces of the federal government’s response to the pandemic.

Republicans have also baselessly floated the idea that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases funded so-called gain-of-function research that led to the spread of Covid-19.

Raskin instantly defended Dr Fauci from accusations that he had orchestrated the proliferation of Covid-19 while also attacking former president Trump and Republicans who bended to his will.

Raskin said that the hearing was meant to divert attention from the Trump administration’s failures to save lives and compared it to the failure of the Oversight Committee to find wrongdoing by President Joe Biden during its bungled impeachment inquiry.

“The investigation of Dr Fauci shows he is an honorable public servant who has devoted his entire career to the public health and the public interest and he is not a comic book super villain,” he said.

Eric Garcia has the full story...

A look-back at when then-President Donald Trump urged Americans to use a ‘disinfectant’ to treat Covid-19

17:33 , Kelly Rissman

In August 2020, Mr Trump suggested Americans inject “disinfectant”, like bleach, or use “light” to treat the virus that at the time was killing millions.

“So supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just a very powerful light — and I think you said that hasn’t been checked because of the testing,” Mr Trump said.

Turning to an official at the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, the then-president continued, “And I think you said that hasn’t been checked, but we’re going to test it?”

“And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, either through the skin or some other way.”

He continued, “I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning? As you see, it gets in the lungs, it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that.

Fauci has repeatedly tried to debunk false claims

17:38 , Kelly Rissman

One such claim that came up multiple times during the hearing was that he had earned money from “big pharma” during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Watch one of these exchanges here:

Jim Jordan takes the floor

17:45 , Kelly Rissman

GOP Rep Jim Jordan asked why it was “so important” that virus was not started in a lab?

He read exchanges between Facebook executives and the White House before asking why the Biden administration was trying to hide the idea that Covid-19 was started in a lab.

Fauci asked what this line of questioning had to do with him, as he wasn’t on those emails.

He then reiterated that Covid’s origins have not been determined. “I kept an open mind,” Fauci said, which Jordan repeated mockingly.

He disagreed that there was a push to downplay the lab leak’s theory. “Not on my part,” Fauci said.

“Really?” Jordan pushed.

“Look at the facts. I’ve kept an open mind throughout the process,” the expert retorted.

ICYMI: Heated moment erupts during Fauci’s testimony

17:49 , Kelly Rissman

An ‘open mind'

17:59 , Kelly Rissman

“Oh absolutely,” Fauci said about the idea that a lab leak could have caused the virus.

However, he explained, “I feel like based on the data I have seen that the more likely, not definitive, but the more likely explanation is the spiollover from an animal reservoir. But since there has not been definitive proof one way or the other, we have to keep an open mind.”

Fauci has repeatedly expressed that he is keeping an “open mind” as it comes the virus’s origins.

“I keep an open mind as to whether [the possible origin] could be a laboratory leak or .... from a natural occurence from an animal reservoir,” he said in plain terms.

ICYMI: Fauci discusses the threats he has received since the pandemic

18:01 , Kelly Rissman

GOP members leave room: Report

18:08 , Kelly Rissman

Most of the Republican members have left the hearing, according to The Hill.

One of the GOP’s committee staff members is currently questioning Dr Fauci, asking him questions with a calmness that has so far been unprecedented in this heated hearing.

WATCH: Marjorie Taylor Greene verbally berates Anthony Fauci during House Covid-19 hearing

18:15 , Kelly Rissman

Expertise on display

18:20 , Kelly Rissman

Dr Fauci’s expertise was on full display during Monday’s hearing.

The infectious disease expert, despite being accused of essentially causing a global killer virus, remained composed as he debunked certain conspiracies brought by the GOP members of the subcommittee and stayed calm as he clarified some statements he made almost six months ago during a transcribed interview in January.

He did so largely using terms and examples that most laypeople can undertand.

Although he vehemently rejected some of the theories suggested by GOP members, he did not trip up on any misconstrued questions and instead opted to take “30 seconds”, as he did in one instance, to fully explain the answer rather than relying on a distorted prompt. For example, when multiple Republican members asked about animal testing, he asked what this had to do with the current hearing.

Not only did he refrain from taking the bait and straying into politics and away from the topic at hand, but his knowledge of infectious disease was clear. He frequently referred to long-standing medical practices, like the one that prompted the six-foot distance rule suggested by the CDC, and current medical papers.

Democrats have no further questions

18:25 , Kelly Rissman

“Their accusations are without evidence,” Rep Ruiz said.

He called the baseless accusations wrong because not only does it stir up mistrust in the scientific fields, but it leads to threats against Dr Fauci and other public health officials.

Democrats didn’t ask any further questions of Dr Fauci.

Hearing adjourned

18:32 , Kelly Rissman

The hearing is over.

Members will have five days to submit questions to Dr Fauci that he will respond to.

ICYMI: Jamie Raskin defends Anthony Fauci and swipes at Trump during House Covid-19 hearing

18:33 , Kelly Rissman

Democrat blasts GOP for ‘bowing’ to convicted felon’ Trump at Fauci hearing

19:50 , Kelly Rissman

Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin has slammed Republicans for “bowing to convicted felon” Donald Trump after he told Americans to inject bleach to cure Covid-19 at the height of the pandemic.

Dr Anthony Fauci was called to testify before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic’s hearing on Monday, as House Republicans have sought to scrutinize his role as one of the chief faces of the federal government’s response to the pandemic.

Republicans have also baselessly floated the idea that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases funded so-called gain-of-function research that led to the spread of Covid-19.

Raskin instantly defended Dr Fauci from accusations that he had orchestrated the proliferation of Covid-19 while also attacking former president Trump and Republicans who bended to his will.

Raskin said that the hearing was meant to divert attention from the Trump administration’s failures to save lives and compared it to the failure of the Oversight Committee to find wrongdoing by President Joe Biden during its bungled impeachment inquiry.

“The investigation of Dr Fauci shows he is an honorable public servant who has devoted his entire career to the public health and the public interest and he is not a comic book super villain,” he said.

Eric Garcia has the full story...

Raskin slams GOP for ‘bowing to convicted felon’ Trump and his Covid bleach claims

Fauci doesn’t back down from stance after Rep Jordan’s taunting

19:53 , Kelly Rissman