White House chief medical advisor Anthony Fauci told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday that the Trump administration is to blame for China’s refusal to discuss the origins of COVID-19:
What happens is that if you look at the anti-China approach that clearly the Trump administration had right from the beginning, and the accusatory nature, the Chinese, they’re gonna flinch back and say ‘No, sorry, we’re not gonna talk to you about it,’ which is not correct. I think that horse is out of the barn and they’re very suspicious of anybody trying to accuse them… we need to have an open dialogue with their scientists and our scientists, keep the politics out of it because these are scientists that we’ve known for decades.
The November 27 CBS interview was not the first time Fauci has refused to blame China for the COVID-19 pandemic. In March of 2022, BBC’s Sunday Morning host Sophie Raworth questioned Fauci regarding China’s coverup:
“We spoke to one of the WHO [World Health Organization] investigators who’d been to Wuhan, to investigate how the virus started, and they were prevented from seeing key details and from speaking to key people,” said Raworth. “Why do you think the Chinese government did that?”
"You know, I don’t want to create any or mention any disparaging remarks about that,” Fauci responded.
“I think they were very concerned and maybe embarrassed that the virus evolved from their country,” said Fauci. “But there’s nothing wrong with that.”
As early as June of 2021, Fauci told MSNBC’s Morning Joe that the U.S. cannot take too “accusatory” of a tone toward China:
I mean, it’s obviously in China’s interest to find out exactly what it is, and the ‘is’ of the natural theory would be to find that link, so you have to keep looking for it. I mean, obviously you want openness and cooperation. One of the ways you can get it is don’t be accusatory. Try to get both a forensic, a scientific, and an investigational approach. I think the accusatory part about it is only going to get them to pull back even more.
The Republican Party says they will investigate the origins of COVID-19 and Fauci’s involvement as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID).
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has taken point to hold Fauci accountable, and accuses the NIAID director of lying under oath about his (and the United States’) involvement in covering up the Wuhan lab leak. Sen. Paul questioned Fauci extensively during multiple Senate hearings and asked him about the extent of the U.S. research in the Wuhan lab.
“Dr. Fauci, the idea that a government official like yourself would claim unilaterally to represent science and that any criticism of you would be considered a criticism of science itself is quite dangerous,” Sen. Paul said during one of the hearings.
During a June 2022 testimony from Fauci, Sen. Paul said that Fauci keeps refusing to be transparent. “We’ve been asking you and you refuse to answer whether anybody on the vaccine committees gets royalties from the pharmaceutical companies,” Sen. Paul said. “I asked you last time and what was your response? ‘We don’t have to tell you.'”
Fauci continues to deny that there is any merit to Sen. Paul’s statements. In the face of increasing scrutiny Fauci has announced his retirement from all government offices, effective later this month.
