Dr. Anthony Fauci had a very bad day on Wednesday as the House subcommittee investigating COVID heard from former President Trump’s CDC director, Dr. Robert Redfield, who flatly charged the epidemiologist with ignoring him in an effort to quash the lab leak claims that were swirling at the time.
Other scientific advisors told Congress that there is growing evidence that the virus leaked from the Wuhan lab in China and they also accused Fauci of actively and knowingly covering up the claims because it ran against the narrative being pushed by the left.
The two most notable experts testifying were Dr. Jamie Metzl, a Democratic former staffer for President Biden, and Redfield. They both stated that taxpayer-funded gain-of-function research almost certainly created the virus that leaked from the Chinese facility.
Redfield asserted that Fauci dismissed his concerns over where the virus originated out of hand because “they wanted a single narrative and I had a different point of view.” He claimed he was shut out of high-level conversations after he told Fauci in early 2020 that he did not think natural spillover was “scientifically plausible.”
Former CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield testifies about three suspicious events that took place at the Wuhan lab in September 2019:
“In Sept. 2019, three things happened in that lab. One is they deleted the sequences … pic.twitter.com/kvXs2OCHVC
— TallTanOne (@TallTanOne) March 9, 2023
Redfield called for gain-of-function research to be stopped until there was a “consensus” on its benefit to society.
He said there was evidence of the virus as early as September 2019 and expanded on three now-declassified “highly irregular” findings that bolster the lab leak theory. Redfield claimed researchers deleted sequences, changed command and control of the Wuhan lab from civilian to military, and allowed a contractor to retrofit the ventilation in the lab. He called the last point “really telling.”
(Video Credit: C-SPAN)
Metzl claimed that he leaned toward the lab leak theory because “the Chinese government has done everything in its power” to stonewall an investigation into the origins of the virus.
“Given that the Chinese government has every incentive to find an intermediary host, it’s very significant that one hasn’t been found,” Metzl stated. “I think it’s very telling after three years we haven’t found it.”
“There’s going to be no doubt that a research-related origin remains a very serious possibility, if not a distinct probability. There is no smoking gun proving a laboratory-origin hypothesis, but the growing body of circumstantial evidence suggests that gun is at the very least, warm to the touch,” he added.
(Video Credit: Daily Mail)
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) excoriated Fauci for “trying to cover his backside” concerning the lab leak claims.
“This is the highest-paid guy in our government getting all kinds of money to tell us things that were not accurate,” Jordan remarked. “US tax dollars went to a lab in China, a lab that was not up to code, a lab that was doing gain-of-function research, and that’s where this thing most definitely came from and Dr. Fauci could not have that news getting out.”
WATCH: @Jim_Jordan DEMOLISHES Fauci’s COVID origins story pic.twitter.com/k9muabjAS7
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) March 8, 2023
The explosive testimony follows the release of a Department of Energy report two weeks ago that stated that the virus likely originated from a leak at the Wuhan lab, according to the Wall Street Journal. FBI Director Christopher Wray has also confirmed that his intelligence agency has come to the same conclusion.
U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup, chair of the committee, noted the lack of safety protocols at the lab, while Redfield said there was “no doubt” the National Institutes of Health (NIH), State Department, US Agency of International Development and Department of Defense were funding gain-of-function research.
Reports have now surfaced that Fauci commissioned a scientific paper at the beginning of the pandemic, known as the Proximal Origin paper. It was intended to negate the claim that the virus came from a lab.
Rep. James Comer, chair of the Oversight Committee, asked the witnesses about the Proximal Origin paper from early 2020.
“Yes or no… was there science available to make such an unequivocal statement against the possibility of a lab that early in February?” the Kentucky Republican asked the four witnesses.
Three witnesses replied no. Democratic witness Auwaerter said he didn’t have “sufficient” evidence to say one way or the other.
Referring to Fauci and NIH Director Francis Collins’ role in approving gain-of-function research, Comer commented that they “got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. They got caught supercharging a virus in an unsecured Chinese lab.”
🚨Dr. Fauci & Dr. Collins got caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
They wanted to push the envelope. They got caught supercharging viruses in an unsecure Wuhan lab. Then they coordinated to simply cover themselves.
Watch my remarks from today’s @COVIDSelect hearing👇🏼 https://t.co/Mp89xViDlr
— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) March 8, 2023
“They were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should,” he charged.
Redfield remarked concerning the paper, “It is antithetical to science. Science has debate and they squashed debate.”
Concerning the origin of the virus, Redfield stated, “I don’t think that answers are going to come from the scientific community. I think it’s going to come from the intelligence community.”
“I think declassification is very important,” he declared. “There are some method and sourcing issues that you guys are going to have to wrestle with.”
🚨 BREAKING: Former CDC Director Robert Redfield reveals the COVID-19 virus was likely created by gain of function research funded by Dr. Fauci and the NIAID.@COVIDSelect pic.twitter.com/70JJZ34tG7
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) March 8, 2023
Redfield said he believes that Fauci took the natural origin position because “that’s what happened with SARS and MERs.” He pointed out that those viruses came into being before 2012 when the US wasn’t involved in gain-of-function research.
He recounted that he attempted to explain to Fauci that the virus was far more tailored to human-to-human transmission than SARS and MERS, “I immediately said, ‘Wait a second, this isn’t natural.'”
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