- Title: Fauci and Republican senator in heated argument at Senate hearing
- Date: 20th July 2021
- Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (JULY 20, 2021) (UNRESTRICTED POOL - Broadcasters: NONE Digital: NONE) WIDESHOT PANEL OF HEALTH EXPERTS TESTIFYING TO THE U.S. SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE (Left to right): DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, THE DIRECTOR OF THE U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION / DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, THE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES AT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH / DR. JANET WOODCOCK, THE ACTING COMMISSIONER OF THE U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION / AND DAWN O'CONNELL, THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE AT THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES REVERSE WIDESHOT OF A HEARING OF THE U.S. SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, THE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES AT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, IN AN EXCHANGE WITH REPUBLICAN SENATOR RAND PAUL, SAYING: PAUL: "Dr. Fauci, as you are aware, it is a crime to Congress. Section 1001 of the U.S. Criminal Code creates a felony and five-year penalty for lying to Congress." FAUCI LISTENING / DEMOCRATIC SENATOR PATTY MURRAY, THE CHAIR OF THE U.S. SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE, LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, THE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES AT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, IN AN EXCHANGE WITH REPUBLICAN SENATOR RAND PAUL, CONTINUING: PAUL: "This research matches -- these are Dr. Ebright's words -- this research matches, indeed epitomizes, the definition of 'gain of function' research done entirely in Wuhan -- for which there was supposed to be a federal pause." (Referring to Dr. Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University who has promoted the contention that the COVID-19 virus escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China). FAUCI LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, THE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES AT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, IN AN EXCHANGE WITH REPUBLICAN SENATOR RAND PAUL, CONTINUING: PAUL: "Dr. Fauci, knowing it is a crime to lie to Congress, do you wish to retract your statement of May 11, where you claimed that the NIH never funded 'gain of function' research in Wuhan?" FAUCI: "Senator Paul, I have never lied before the Congress and I do not retract that statement. This paper that you are referring to was judged by qualified staff, up and down the chain, as not being 'gain of function.' PAUL (Overlapping): "What was--" FAUCI (Overlapping): "Let me finish!" PAUL (Overlapping): "You take an animal virus and you increase its transmissibility to humans, you're saying that's not 'gain of function'?" FAUCI: "Yeah, that is correct. And--, and--, Senator Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly! And, I want to say that officially. You do not know what you are talking about!" (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, THE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES AT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, IN AN EXCHANGE WITH REPUBLICAN SENATOR RAND PAUL, SAYING: PAUL: "How you can say that is not 'gain of function'--" FAUCI (Overlapping): "It is not! PAUL: "It's a dance and you're dancing around this because you're trying to obscure responsibility for four million people dying around the world from a pandemic." FAUCI: "If the point that you are making is that the grant that was funded as a sub-award from the EcoHealth (EcoHealth Alliance) to Wuhan created SARS-CoV-2--. That's where you are getting. Let me finish! PAUL: "We don't know. FAUCI (Overlapping): "Wait a minute! I can--" PAUL (Overlapping): "We don't know if it did come from the lab but all the evidence is pointing that it came from the lab and there will be responsibility for those who funded the lab, including yourself." FAUCI: "I totally resent--" MURRAY: "This committee will allow the witness to respond." FAUCI (Overlapping): "I totally--, I totally resent the lie that you are now propagating, Senator. Those viruses are molecularly impossible to result in SARS-Co-V-2" PAUL (Overlapping): "No one is saying they are. No one is saying those viruses--. We're saying they are 'gain of function' viruses because they're animal viruses--" FAUCI (Overlapping): "They're not!" PAUL (Overlapping): "They're animal viruses that became more transmissible in humans -- and you funded it! And, you won't admit the truth!" FAUCI: "And you--, and you implying--" MURRAY (Overlapping): "Senator Paul, your time has expired and I will allow witnesses who come before this committee to respond." FAUCI: "You are implying that what we did was responsible for the deaths of individuals. I totally resent that! PAUL (Overlapping): "And, it could have been. And, it could have been!" FAUCI (Overlapping): "And, if anybody is lying here, Senator, it is you!" REPUBLICAN SENATOR RAND PAUL LEANING BACK IN HIS CHAIR AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE EXCHANGE AND DRINKING WATER FROM A BOTTLE
- Embargoed: 3rd August 2021 17:58
- Keywords: Anthony Fauci COVID-19 Rand Paul. Senate Health Committee pandemic
- Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- City: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Health/Medicine,United States
- Reuters ID: LVA001EMNC3LZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: At a U.S. Senate hearing on Tuesday (July 20), America's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, testified that the Delta variant now accounts for more than 80 percent of new COVID-19 cases in the United States.
But, anyone who tuned into the hearing of the U.S. Senate Health Committee, would have been struck by the heated and extended exchange between Fauci and Republican Senator Rand Paul, who has often used these hearing to peddle the theory that the virus was fabricated inside a Wuhan, China laboratory -- either wittingly or unwittingly -- and that the U.S. government funded the research.
The exchange was a glimpse into the cultural and political tensions within the United States -- which are usually cast as a debate generated by the fringe of Donald Trump's supporters -- over the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, the liberties lost by mask-wearing, and the efficacy or inefficiency of vaccines.
Citiing a journal study by Dr. Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, who has been a proponent of the theory that the virus leaked from the Wuhan laboratory, Senator Paul asserted Fauci had lied to the Congress when he testified earlier this year there was no known connection between the relelase of the virus into the human population and a 7.5 million dollar National Institute of Health grant to the EcoHealth Alliance, a non-profit organization which focuses on discovering zootic viral transmissions in nature and which has an association with the Wuhan laboratory.
Fauci bristled at Paul's suggestion that he may have been aware that the Wuhan lab was engaged in U.S.-funded "gain of function' research in which pathogens are manipulated to increase their ability to transmit among hosts, whether animal or human.
"You are implying that what we did was responsible for the deaths of individuals. I totally resent that!" Fauci said. "And, if anybody is lying here, Senator, it is you!"
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