Fauci hearing thrusts COVID fights back into spotlight

▪ COVID-19 tensions in Senate spotlight

▪ Iran launches ‘surprise attack’

▪ Graham sanctions bill advances

▪ ICE targeting Haitian, Syrian migrants

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The COVID-19 pandemic will return to center stage Wednesday as the man whose briefings dominated daily life for more than a year testifies before Congress.

Former White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci, who played a key role in the pandemic response during the first Trump administration and the Biden administration, will appear before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Fauci’s appearance comes in response to a subpoena he received for testimony about a purported cover-up of U.S. involvement in viral research at a lab in Wuhan, China, that some Republicans have alleged caused the outbreak.

The origins of the pandemic is just one point of contention sure to be raised by Republicans.

The public release of Fauci’s diary entries in recent days will provide senators with plenty of fodder. The entries were released by the office of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the chair of the committee, who has been a chief critic of Fauci.

Paul and Fauci have clashed during past congressional hearings when Fauci was leading the pandemic response and serving as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Paul has promoted the “lab leak” theory, that the coronavirus escaped from the Wuhan lab, and accused Fauci and other officials of trying to cover it up and convince the public that it was a baseless conspiracy theory.

The senator has called for Fauci to be indicted for allegedly lying to Congress under oath about gain-of-function research, which involves genetically modifying organisms to better understand diseases.

Paul slammed Fauci on Monday over the diary entries, telling reporters they show a “level of dishonesty” that is “really astounding.”

“Still not convinced Anthony Fauci lied about gain-of-function research or the origins of COVID? Look no further than his own words,” Paul wrote in a post on the social platform X.

The entries show Fauci recorded being unsure about the origins of the virus in the early months of the pandemic. In addition to the lab leak theory, the other main theory of the pandemic’s origins is that the virus jumped from animals to humans at a wet market in Wuhan.

“We know the market was not the source, it was the amplifier,” Fauci wrote on Jan. 26, 2020, a comment that Paul seized on. “Having said that, somewhere the virus jumped from animals to humans.”

Other comments that Paul and his fellow Republican senators may seize on include Fauci’s criticism of President Trump in his entries.

“Very laborious press conference where the POTUS rambled on,” Fauci wrote on March 27, 2020. “He wasted the opportunity to just focus on the relief package and went inot [into] his diatribe against previous administrations.”

Trump has been slammed by Democrats and other critics for his approach to handling the pandemic, having often downplayed its severity. The president has recently touted Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s effort to quickly produce and release a vaccine to address COVID-19, during public speeches.

Fauci in his diary also took some credit for state lockdowns, a controversial aspect of the pandemic that experts pushed to stop the spread of the virus and avoid overwhelming hospitals.

Trump weighed in on the diary entries during an interview on “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday, saying he “grew tired” of Fauci.

“He wanted to close everything down. I allowed it to be up to the governors,” Trump said, adding that many Republican governors “didn’t want to close.”

Adding to the controversy is the preemptive pardon that former President Biden issued to Fauci, along with other officials, before leaving office.

Paul has railed against that decision as well, calling for it to be challenged in court.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, warned Fauci’s pardon doesn’t cover his testimony Wednesday if he lies under oath.

▪ The Hill: Fauci set for high-profile hearing.

▪ The Hill: Five takeaways from Fauci’s diary entries.

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