Surprise, Surprise, Anthony Fauci Lied Again
Anthony Fauci is an admitted liar. He's admitted that he lied about what he believed the threshold for herd immunity would be in order to encourage more vaccinations. His embarrassing (and inaccurate) defense of his flip-flop on masks was that he lied about the efficacy of universal public masking in order to prevent hospital supplies from running low.
He's denied culpability in school closures, forcefully claiming that he had no part in it, while ignoring that he repeatedly warned publicly that schools should be closed.
It's a common tactic for the 83-year-old doctor; to use semantics to avoid taking responsibility. He didn't forcibly close school doors himself, therefore it's not his fault. During testimony under oath, he repeatedly, hundreds of times even, answered that he didn't recall conversations or events that would make him look bad. Then wrote a book where he recalled, in exact detail, what he was thinking and saying years prior.
Fauci's proclivity for misleading and dishonest answers is one of many explanations for why trust in him, and public health at large, has fallen so far. And sure enough, a new release of his emails has shown yet again that he happily plays fast and loose with the truth.
Dr. Anthony Fauci. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Anthony Fauci Misleads Again On COVID Lab Leak
One of Fauci's most obvious falsehoods revolves around what he knew and when about the possibility that gain of function was potentially responsible for creating the coronavirus. And whether it may have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) as part of a laboratory mishap.
This email release, posted by James Tobias on X, shows just how far he was willing to go to mislead investigators and the public.
In the early days of the outbreak, Fauci quite quickly realized that the possibility remained that his own organization could have funded the research that led to COVID-19. Through grants issued to EcoHealth Alliance, and the potential that work conducted by Ralph Baric from the University of North Carolina had been duplicated, unsafely, by researchers at WIV.
On January 27, 2020, Fauci was sent an email from Greg Folkers, describing the key players in gain-of-function research. Including Baric.
"EcoHealth group (Peter Daszak et al), has for years been among the biggest players in coronavirus work, also in collaboration with Ralph Baric, Ian Lipkin and others," Folkers wrote.
Sure enough, just over a week later, on February 6th, per an email sent by Maureen Beanan to Baric, Fauci asked for a meeting with Baric to discuss exactly that.
"Dr. Fauci and Dr. Emily Erbelding, the DMID Director, would like to meet you with at 2:00pm on Tuesday in Dr. Fauci's office to discuss coronavirus P3CO experiments. Would you be able to join them after your meeting at Noon with the DMID staff?"
P3CO describes a multidisciplinary review process for research involving pathogens with enhanced pandemic potential. Exactly like what happened with the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Except when asked about this meeting later on in January 2024 by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Fauci denied ever speaking to Baric about such research.
Fauci was asked, per the committee's transcript, "So it's, for now, a yes or no of whether or not you communicated with these 10 individuals regarding the origins of COVID, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, or EcoHealth 11 Alliance. And for yeses, we'll come back, and if we need to refresh your recollection as 12 we go through, we can."
When asked about Ralph Baric, he replied, "I don't recall speaking to Ralph about that."
So the meeting with Baric was scheduled at the request of Erbelding, Fauci and Fauci's top employee, Hugh Auchincloss, with the topic specifically stated in an email as being the framework for reviewing gain-of-function research proposals as well as the coronavirus. And Fauci says he doesn't recall speaking to Ralph Baric about the very top of the meeting. Sounds about right.
During that subcommittee testimony, Fauci denied even remembering that he met with Baric, downplaying his relationship with him.
"You know, I don't recall (the February 11th meeting with Baric), but it's here on the calendar," Fauci said. "So, I mean, it's not unusual for me to meet with scientists who pass through D.C., so it's not surprising. But I don't recall the meeting or what was discussed at the meeting."
This meeting was scheduled just five days after a conference call with Fauci and a host of other immunologists about the possibility that gain-of-function research had created the coronavirus. It took place in the midst of international outbreaks, and after the Diamond Princess cruise ship had seen the virus spread rapidly. There's no doubt that Fauci would remember making time during such a chaotic period for a meeting with Baric, widely known as one of the preeminent researchers at enhancing viruses' pathogenicity. His time would have been immensely valuable, and Baric was hardly just a scientist passing through D.C. He was an expert on this exact scenario, which Fauci undoubtedly would have been well aware of.
And we know what was discussed, because beyond the meeting topics emailed to Baric, a Slack message from another doctor, Dr. Matt Frieman confirms it. When talking about Baric, Frieman wrote, "He said he sat in Fauci's office talking about the outbreak and chimeras."
So Fauci set a meeting with Baric and had the meeting. They discussed the coronavirus outbreak and how researchers could create chimeric viruses to make them more dangerous. A scenario eerily similar to what many believe happened with COVID. Then Fauci acted later as if he'd never heard of Baric and claimed to have no recollection of even having a conversation, let alone what was discussed.
Lest you think it's that he wouldn't remember in detail what he said or thought in the early days of the outbreak, in his multi-million dollar book, he recalls the exact words he used during a conference with NIH employees on January 3, 2020. Surprisingly, his memory seems to come and go depending on the context. Who would have ever guessed?
Again, dishonesty is a pattern. Fauci has caused immense damage, misled about what he knew and when, and used "I don't recall" strategically to avoid culpability. Yes, that's all bad. But hey, at least taxpayers are still paying for his security detail and a private chauffeur.