Republican lawmakers are accusing Dr. Anthony Fauci of knowingly dissembling about the Wuhan research grant – again. The accusations follow the release of a new book entitled Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration's Response to the Pandemic That Changed History by reporters Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta.
A month ago, Fauci and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) had a fiery exchange on Capitol Hill. The senator accused the head of NAIAD of having secretly funded gain of function studies at the Institute of Virology Wuhan. At the time, Fauci adamantly insisted this wasn't true. He stated for the record:
"Senator Paul, with all due respect, you are entirely and completely incorrect that the NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology."
Subsequent to this tense congressional exchange, thousands of Fauci's emails, accessed via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), were released and appeared to put the lie to Fauci's statement. Dr. Paul specifically referenced an email of February 2020 in which Dr. Fauci appeared concerned that any connection that could be made between him and the resumption of gain of function studies in Wuhan be obscured.
Gain of function studies was suspended in 2014 during the Obama administration because they were considered highly dangerous if a lab leak occurred. But allegations that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) used a sort of middleman to fund the continuation of the controversial studies have lately dogged Dr. Fauci and his colleague Dr. Francis Collins - Director of NIH.
The claim has been made that money was routed through a man named Peter Daszak's non-profit organization EcoHealth Alliance to obscure any connection to the federal government. Given this surreptitious funding, Daszak was roundly criticized for having a profound conflict of interest when he was chosen to join the World Health Organization's task force to inspect the Wuhan laboratory in February of this year. The team found nothing to indicate that the SARS CoV2 virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology's laboratory. But this was a seemingly pat declaration that was criticized by many as suspect, given the WHO’s history of ostensible efforts to absolve China of complicity for the outbreak - and Daszak’s glaring conflicts of interest.
So, with the release of Fauci's emails and the Nightmare Scenario book, the heat has been turned up. Members of the GOP have excoriated him for what they allege are his deceptions on gain of function studies in Wuhan, while he remains a hero to the mainstream media and the American left. At this juncture, If Fauci is obscuring his complicity in the ever-evolving saga of the origins of SARS CoV2, he is barely being provided cover by a plausible deniability bordering on implausible.
Allegations that Fauci used the chaos of the Trump administration's first year to quietly resume gain of function studies in 2017 have been made. Apparently, when then-President Trump got wind of the resumption, he directed that the funding be cut off. Fauci allegedly ignored the directive - until he found it was coming directly from Trump. However, the epidemiologist told a congressional committee that he had no idea why the grant was stopped - even though he had previously gone to great lengths to discredit both the lab leak theory and the assertion that NIH was in any way connected to alleged "outsourced" gain of function studies in Wuhan.
The view that Dr. Fauci has been less than forthcoming appears to be gaining ground in many circles. GOP lawmakers are calling for a full congressional investigation into the origins of COVID-19 – something House Majority Leader, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), has thus far refused. At best, as Senator Paul alleges, Fauci has demonstrated a profound conflict of interest regarding gain of function studies and his continued support for the increasingly discredited zoonotic or natural origin theory of SARS CoV2. At worst, Fauci is guilty of the lying of which GOP lawmakers are accusing him – by extension, connecting him directly to the creation of a pandemic that crippled the planet for over a year. That is undoubtedly a "nightmare scenario" Fauci is no doubt anxious to avoid.
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