Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has agreed to testify publicly in June on his role in overseeing pandemic-era policies and shaping the narrative surrounding the possible origins of Covid-19.
The upcoming hearing, set for June 3, marks the infectious-disease expert’s first public appearance before the 118th Congress since his retirement at the end of 2022, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic announced on Wednesday. Fauci had testified for a two-day transcribed interview behind closed doors in January as part of an agreement made with the House panel late last year. The public hearing was included in that agreement.
Nearly 18 months ago, Fauci formally stepped down from leading the NIAID, having served as chief medical adviser under the Trump and Biden administrations.
“Retirement from public service does not excuse Dr. Fauci from accountability to the American people,” said Representative Brad Wenstrup (R., Ohio), chairman of the coronavirus subcommittee. “On June 3, Americans will have an opportunity to hear directly from Dr. Fauci about his role in overseeing our nation’s pandemic response, shaping pandemic-era polices, and promoting singular questionable narratives about the origins of COVID-19.”
During the two-day transcribed interview, Wenstrup and other lawmakers on the panel questioned Fauci about gain-of-function research, the lab-leak hypothesis, social-distancing guidelines, and other matters relevant to Covid-19.
His private testimony, Wenstrup said, revealed “serious systemic failures in our public health system” and raised “significant concerns about public health officials and the validity of their policy recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Fauci refused to explain the rationale for the six-foot social-distancing recommendations, saying they “sort of just appeared” at the pandemic’s outset and were likely not based on any scientific data.
Regarding the lab-leak hypothesis involving the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, Fauci testified that it was not a conspiracy theory after all, despite some scientists’ attempt to disprove it in a paper four years earlier. He conceded that the coronavirus possibly originated from the Chinese lab but played with the definition of a “lab leak” to defend Nature Medicine‘s publication of “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2.”
Fauci also said he failed to recall key details about Covid-19 origins and pandemic policies more than 100 times on the first day of the transcribed interview, according to Wenstrup.
“As the face of America’s public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, these statements raise serious questions that warrant public scrutiny,” the chairman said.
While Republican members are critical of the prominent role that Fauci played in the federal government’s response to the pandemic, Democrats are more skeptical.
“The Select Subcommittee has not uncovered any evidence that directly implicates Dr. Fauci and [former National Institutes of Health director Francis] Collins in a coverup of the pandemic’s origin or collusion with scientific journals to suppress the lab-leak hypothesis,” Representative Raul Ruiz (D., Calif.), the subcommittee’s ranking member, said at a hearing last week, according to the Washington Post.
After the first day of the closed-door hearings in January, Representative Kathy Castor (D., Fla.) accused Republicans of distorting Fauci’s testimony, which she hoped would be made available to the public. The transcript for Fauci’s 14-hour transcribed interview will be released online prior to the June hearing, a spokesperson for the subcommittee confirmed.
Fauci’s public testimony will come a month after EcoHealth Alliance president Dr. Peter Daszak testifies publicly on his nonprofit’s relationship with the Wuhan lab next Wednesday. EcoHealth is a U.S.-based nongovernmental organization believed to have used NIH funding to perform gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan lab, where the pandemic might have originated. An EcoHealth Alliance spokesperson has repeatedly denied any connection between gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab and the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19.
“We look forward to both Dr. Fauci’s and Dr. Daszak’s forthcoming and honest testimonies,” Wenstrup said, “and appreciate their willingness to voluntarily appear before the Select Subcommittee for public hearings.”