Dr. Anthony Fauci to testify before House COVID-19 panel for first time since retirement
Dr.Anthony Fauci will face a congressional grilling later this spring, having agreed to testify before the House panel investigating the origins and government response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fauci, who retired from public service at the end of 2022, will testify before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on June 3, Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) announced Wednesday. It will be the infectious diseases expert’s first public appearance before Congress since his retirement as President Biden’s chief medical advisor and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.“Retirement from public service does not excuse Dr.
Fauci from accountability to the American people,” Wenstrup said in a statement. “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,” the Ohio Republican added. Fauci, 83, is expected to face questions about his advocacy for social distancing and contradictory advice on mask-wearing early in the pandemic, during his time as a member of former President Donald Trump’s White House Coronavirus Task Force. The immunologist will also likely be asked about millions of dollars in federal grants given to EcoHealth Alliance to conduct coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. A former senior adviser to Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was recently found by the House COVID-19 panel to have shared “confidential” communications with EcoHealth Alliance about how the agency, and Fauci, were preparing to respond to accusations that they funded risky gain-of-function experiments on coronaviruses in Wuhan. Fauci sat for a 14-hour-long transcribed interview with the House panel in January, during which he admitted to signing off on NIAID grants without person...