Fauci says he 'will cooperate fully' with GOP oversight hearings even though he's leaving the government
Patrick Semansky/AP Photo
- Dr. Anthony Fauci said he's ready to testify before US lawmakers under the new Congress.
- Republicans, who will control the House, have pledged COVID-19 oversight.
- Fauci will be leaving his government job in December.
White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that he's ready to face Republicans in Congress next year as they gain control of the US House and have pledged renewed COVID-19 oversight.
"I absolutely will cooperate fully and testify before the Congress if asked," Fauci told reporters during the White House press briefing. "I have testified before the Congress a few hundred times over the last 40 years or so, so I have no trouble testifying. We can defend and explain and stand by everything that we've said. I have nothing to hide."
The appearance at the White House was likely Fauci's last. Fauci, who has been director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984 and is turning 82 next month, will be leaving his post in government in December.
In the months leading up to the election, Republicans vowed to hold congressional oversight hearings with Fauci even after he leaves government. They plan to ask Fauci what he knew about the origins of the virus and about policies aimed at COVID-19 mitigation, such as government-mandated lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and school closures.
—Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) August 22, 2022
Fauci had long been viewed as a nonpartisan public servant who worked with both Republican and Democratic presidents, and is respected in the scientific community. During the Trump administration, however, he would sometimes contradict the president's promotion of quack treatments and became one of the leading proponents for lockdowns to limit the strain on hospitals, both of which drew the ire of the MAGA base.
Fauci, who is one of the US's leading infectious disease experts, has faced repeated questions in hearings from Senate Republicans who objected to CDC guidelines.
By the time President Joe Biden took office last year, Fauci became a target by many Republican lawmakers who clashed with him during heated congressional hearings. They saw some of his public health advice as too heavy-handed and questioned him about the possibility of COVID-19 originating in a lab.
The question of COVID origins continues to bring heated debate. During Tuesday's press briefing, reporter Diana Glebova of conservative news outlet the Daily Caller tried to ask Fauci what he did to investigate the origins of COVID-19.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told Glebova not to yell out her questions and then another reporter, Simon Ateba of Today News Africa, urged officials to accept Glebova's question. Jean-Pierre said she would pick which reporters to call on and told Ateba, "I'm done with you right now."
Fauci left the briefing after taking questions from reporters for roughly 30 minutes. Fauci has said that while he'll be leaving government, he won't be retiring and will be mentoring "the next generation of scientific leaders."
The question over whether COVID came from nature or a lab incident is unresolved. China denied that there was a lab leak but has not cooperated with investigative efforts, and some studies suggest the virus came from live animals sold at a market in Wuhan — or that the market may have been the place that amplified the virus.
When Biden was elected, he called Fauci to ask him to serve as chief medical advisor. The Biden administration completed the COVID-19 vaccine rollout that began under the Trump administration, and on Tuesday Fauci appeared at the briefing to encourage people to get a booster shot ahead of the winter holidays.
On Tuesday, Fauci said the pandemic had lasted longer than he anticipated. Between 200 to 300 people still die from COVID-19 in the US every day, according to the New York Times' tracking data.
"I did not imagine that we would see a three-year saga of suffering and death," Fauci said, "and 1 million Americans losing their lives."
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/97BlxSy
No comments