A congressional hearing examining Dr. Anthony Fauci’s role in leading the federal COVID-19 pandemic response took on a highly partisan tone on Monday. Republican lawmakers aggressively criticized and questioned Fauci over his decision-making and actions during the crisis.
Fauci, who retired in 2022 after decades of government service including as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testified before the Republican-controlled committee. It was his first appearance on Capitol Hill since leaving his position.
Multiple GOP members launched harsh accusations at Fauci. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene refused to use his doctoral title, instead calling him “Mr. Fauci.” She claimed without evidence that he should be imprisoned, alleging he was among scientists who improperly profited from the pandemic.
However, at one point, the committee chair reprimanded Greene’s line of questioning. Fauci later stated such “political performances” had led to an increase in disturbing death threats against his family that required constant security protection.
“There have been credible death threats, leading to the arrests of two individuals. And credible death threats means someone who clearly was on their way to kill me..It’s required my having protective services, essentially all the time. It is very troublesome to me.”
He firmly defended his guidance during the pandemic as simply evolving based on the scientific process as more data became available about the novel virus. He maintained that measures like masking saved potential lives.
“When you’re dealing with a new outbreak, things change”, Fauci said. “The scientific process collects the information that will allow you, at that time, to make a determination or recommendation or a guideline. As things evolve and change and you get more information, it is important that you use the scientific process to gain that information and perhaps change the way you think of things, change your guidelines and change your recommendation.”
Fauci also denied allegations of circumventing transparency by using non-government email, saying he always handled official business properly. On the COVID origins, he said the pandemic strain could not have come from U.S.-funded research but did not rule out other possibilities in China.
“I cannot account, nor can anyone account, for other things that might be going on in China, which is the reason why I have always said and will say now, I keep an open mind as to what the origin is.”
The hearing previewed the final report Republicans intend to release examining the pandemic response and recommendations for the future. In an interview with CNN after the hearing, Fauci didn’t fail to express his disappointment at the partisan nature of the hearing, saying it didn’t focus on constructive lessons.
“There’s always been differences of opinion, differences of ideology, criticisms and things like that. But the level of vitriol that we see now…was really quite unfortunate because the purpose of hearings are to try and figure out how we can do better so that next time, if and when we are faced with a pandemic, we’d be better prepared,”
