House GOP Questions Fauci Over COVID Origins

Facts

• House Republicans began interviewing Dr. Anthony Fauci, described by GOP-led panel head Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) as the 'face' of the US' COVID response, on Monday.¹
• Fauci, who served as the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 until he stepped down in 2022, is appearing before Congress to answer queries from the House Select Subcommittee concerning government response to the pandemic. [Note - starting date was 1984 not 1987 per source.]²
• According to Wenstrup, the Subcommittee has prepared over 200 pages of questions and nearly 100 exhibits of evidence. It is conducting 14 hours of interviews across two days.³
• Wenstrup has further stated that the closed-door sessions seek to 'demand explanations for any pandemic-era failures,' and examine Fauci's 'role as the face of America's COVID-19 public health response' and his dismissal of the lab leak theory surrounding the pandemic's origin.⁴
• Furthermore, Fauci is also expected to face scrutiny over whether the US funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and whether he was involved. The GOP have focused efforts on determining Fauci's definition of gain-of-function research which, some have speculated, could have possibly resulted in a lab leak causing the pandemic.⁵
• Questions put to Fauci — a former adviser to Donald Trump and Joe Biden — are also expected to cover the topics of mask mandate policies, longterm impacts of lockdowns, and administrative indecision surrounding COVID vaccines during the pandemic.⁶

Sources: ¹CBS, ²Washington Examiner, ³Breitbart, ⁴New York Post, ⁵The Hill and ⁶Daily Mail.

Narratives

• Right narrative, as provided by Threadreaderapp. Anthony Fauci is responsible for disastrous pandemic-era policies that gaslit the American people and locked children out of schools. From flip-flopping on mask mandates, to the promotion of forced vaccinations, to his possible funding of gain-of-function research, Fauci has done immeasurable damage to the American people. Fauci wasn't mistaken in his decision making over this catastrophe — he knowingly lied to the country to enrich himself and his friends, putting everyone in danger.
• Left narrative, as provided by Archive. Right-wingers in Congress have painted Fauci as a boogeyman responsible for untold tragedy and suffering, but the fact is he's a distinguished doctor who served as the NIAID director for 38 years. Of course Fauci is prone to human error, and not every statement and decision made in a confusing and overwhelming time for public health was 100% correct, but he always had the best interests of Americans in mind. He shouldn't spend his retirement being dragged through the mud by slander and conspiracy.

Predictions