Name: Fauci 'Prompted' Drafting of Study to 'Disprove' COVID Lab Leak Theory: House Committee
Uploaded: 2023-03-06T19:59:03.000Z
Description: A GOP-led House committee said Sunday it uncovered new email evidence suggesting Dr. Anthony Fauci "prompted" the drafting of a "proximal origin" publication meant to "disprove" the COVID-19 lab leak theory.

NTD Newsroom comprises teams of reporters, editors, and producers assigned to cover breaking news and other stories.


NTD Newsroom

NTD Plus

News

News you can trust from the U.S. and around the world. Critical information and insight. We cover the stories that others don’t. NTD News Today airs Monday–Friday at 11 a.m. ET.

NTD News Today

Pentagon Scraps Deployment of 4,000 Troops to Poland

9/11 Memorial and Museum Adds 7th Moment of Silence

AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Launch Joint Venture to Tackle Dead Zones

Stefania Cox is an NTD News anchor and national correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City. Stefania anchors "NTD Newsroom," and co-anchors "NTD News Today" weekdays at 10:00 am ET.

Stefania Cox

Trump Committed to US Defense, Prosperity, Amid China Talks: Expert

Jerome Powell Ends Tenure as Fed Chair

US Government Sues Chick-fil-A Over Religious Rights

Melina Wisecup is NTD's congressional correspondent based in Washington, covering Capitol Hill and campaign politics.

Melina Wisecup

California Gubernatorial Candidates Make Closing Pitches to Voters 

Jason Blair is a national correspondent for NTD News based in California. 

Jason Blair

Federal Judge Partly Blocks Texas Immigration Law

Trump Announces National Garden of American Heroes Plans

Top Officer: Navy Funding Could Lapse by July

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 15)

Paul Greaney is an NTD news anchor and producer. Since joining the company in 2018, he has anchored the station’s flagship Evening News broadcast, launched the NTD Business show, and produced documentary reports on pointed issues. 

The highlight of Paul’s time in the field was his coverage of the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests in 2019.

Paul Greaney

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 14)

Kevin Hogan is an NTD News data reporter and national correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City. Kevin covers breaking news, as well as U.S. and global current events. He conveys the news through data visualizations and investigates pressing issues.

Kevin Hogan

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 13)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 12)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 11)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 8)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 7)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 6)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 5)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (May 4)

Fast, compelling, first-hand news from China. China in Focus airs Monday–Friday at 8 p.m. ET.

China in Focus

China Sends Warships to Pacific Drill as Tensions With Japan Rise

Reuters is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages.

Reuters

We present news that is truthful and based on facts, outside of the political fog. Instead of focusing on the negative things happening around us, our mission is to give our viewers a good morning with empathetic and uplifting stories. Our aim is to provide an antidote to negativity by shining a light on the best side of people. We speak to inspiring people who positively impact communities, pursue topics that represent our common human values, and will never miss an opportunity to bring you heartwarming stories.

NTD Good Morning

2 US Embassy Personnel Assigned to Cartel Case Killed in Car Accident

The Associated Press is an American not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. 

The Associated Press

US News

Gunman Kills 8 Children, Including 7 of His Own, in Louisiana Mass Shooting

Flora Hua is a reporter based at NTD's global headquarters in New York City, where she covers China news, U.S.-China relations, and human rights issues. Flora primarily contributes to NTD's "China in Focus."  

Flora Hua

Trump: Seized Iranian Ship May Have ‘A Gift From China’

Joseph Lord is a congressional reporter for The Epoch Times.


Joseph Lord

Aldgra Fredly is a freelance writer covering U.S. and Asia Pacific news for The Epoch Times.

Aldgra Fredly

Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani Hospitalized in Critical Condition: Spokesman

Wildfires Across Georgia and Florida Have Destroyed Nearly 50 Homes and Are Forcing Evacuations

US Warns of China Hacks via Routers, Smart Devices

Juliet Song is an international correspondent exclusively covering China news for NTD. She primarily contributes to NTD's "China in Focus," covering U.S.-China relations, the Chinese regime's human rights abuses, and domestic unrest inside China.

Juliet Song

2 Americans Among Suspected Communist Rebels Killed in Clashes With Troops, Philippine Officials Say

Ryan Morgan is a reporter for The Epoch Times focusing on military and foreign affairs. He was previously a news writer for NTD. 


Ryan Morgan

Mari Otsu is NTD's White House correspondent based in Washington. 

Mari Otsu

World News

Middle East

Iran

3 US Warships Fend Off Iranian Attacks, Trump Says Ceasefire Still Holds

Health News

3 Dead in Suspected Hantavirus Outbreak on Cruise Ship in Atlantic Ocean: WHO

A GOP-led House committee said Sunday it uncovered new email evidence suggesting Dr. Anthony Fauci "prompted" the drafting of a "proximal origin" publication meant to "disprove" the COVID-19 lab leak theory.

The Republican-led subcommittee on the COVID-19 pandemic issued a memo (<a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2023.03.05-SSCP-Memo-Re.-New-Evidence.Proximal-Origin.pdf">pdf</a>) Sunday saying that there is new evidence on the "proximal origin of Sars-COV-2," the virus that causes COVID-19. The memo detailed a conference call with former National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Francis Collins, former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, and at least 11 other scientists in early February 2020, just about a week after the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in the United States.

Collins, Fauci, and others were warned in the Feb. 1, 2020, call about the possibility that the virus may have leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, according to Sunday's memo.

Three days after the call, four participants of the conference call issued a paper called "The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2" and sent a draft to Collins and Fauci, the memo said. The two officials were also authorized to edit and approve the paper, it said.

But two months later, the memo said, Collins emailed Fauci and expressed "dismay that Proximal Origin—which they saw prior to publication and were given the opportunity to edit—did not squash the lab leak hypothesis and [asked] if the NIH can do more to 'put down' the lab leak hypothesis"

Citing internal emails, the House GOP committee asserted that Fauci "prompted" Dr. Kristian Andersen of Scripps Research to write the Proximal Origin paper and that it was designed "to ‘disprove’ any lab leak theory." In August 2021, Scripps issued a letter to Republican House investigators and said that "Dr. Anthony Fauci did not attempt to influence his work. Both statements do not appear to be supported by the available evidence."

The Proximal Origin paper's <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9">abstract</a> suggested that the virus may have emerged via Malaysia pangolins because they "contain coronaviruses similar to SARS-CoV." It added: "The presence in pangolins of [a virus' receptor-binding domain] very similar to that of SARS-CoV-2 means that we can infer this was also probably in the virus that jumped to humans."

But Sunday's memo, citing internal emails, stipulated that Anderson "did not find the pangolin data compelling" and only wrote the paper after being "prompted" by Fauci, Collins, and the others.

"Privately, Dr. Andersen did not believe the pangolin data disproved a lab leak theory despite saying so publicly. It is still unclear what intervening event changed the minds of the authors of Proximal Origin in such a short period of time," the House committee said. "Based on this new evidence, the pangolin data was not the compelling factor; to this day, the only known intervening event was the February 1 conference call with Dr. Fauci."

Dr. Francis Collins speaks in Washington on Sept. 9, 2020. (Michael Reynolds/Pool/Getty Images)


<h2>More Pressure</h2>
Sunday's memo puts more Republican pressure on Fauci, who has faced significant criticism for his handling of COVID-19 as well as his often dire predictions about the trajectory of the virus early on in the pandemic. As of Sunday afternoon, neither Fauci nor Collins has made public statements in response to the House committee's memo.

While in congressional hearings, Fauci clashed with Republicans—namely Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). In one instance in 2021, Fauci dismissed Paul's statements that his agency funded a third-party group to perform controversial research on bat coronaviruses at a Wuhan lab and even <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/fauci-clearly-misled-congress-over-covid-19-origins-former-cdc-director_4736252.html">said</a> to Paul: "You do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly, and I want to say that officially. You do not know what you are talking about."

Last year and weeks before leaving his federal position, Fauci told STAT News that he would be willing to comply with Republican-led congressional probes into his agency. It came as GOP lawmakers signaled they would ramp up investigations into the federal government's response to the pandemic and whether any agency tried to cover up the origins of the virus.

“I’d be more than happy to discuss anything that we’ve done over the last several years with this outbreak, since I have nothing to hide and I can defend everything we’ve done,” he <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/fauci-responds-to-republican-probe-threat-after-gop-poised-to-retake-house_4865292.html">said</a> in November.

Meanwhile, FBI Director Christopher Wray told Fox News days ago that his bureau believes the virus may have emerged from the Wuhan lab. Noting that many details are classified, Wray said that the Chinese regime has been less than willing to cooperate with U.S. authorities.

<em>From <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/fauci-prompted-drafting-of-study-to-disprove-covid-lab-leak-theory-house-committee_5101044.html">The Epoch Times</a></em>

house

Videos

Politics

04_Top Stories

Latest Clips

COVID-19

covid

CCP virus

Management

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. 

Jack Phillips

Daniel Monaghan is a reporter for NTD News covering culture, social issues, and education. He holds a BA in Political Science and Government.

Daniel Monaghan

02_Second Lead

Latest and breaking news, documentaries, movies, and lifestyle content on NTD+.
 
Empower your knowledge and elevate your spirit with NTD+, your go-to destination for truthful news, insightful documentaries, and captivating lifestyle content that enriches your life.