Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) on Friday called on White House senior medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci to resign and also demanded a full congressional investigation into the recently-released trove of his emails, as well as the origins of COVID-19.
“Anthony Fauci’s recently released emails and investigative reporting about #COVID19 origins are shocking. The time has come for Fauci to resign and for a full congressional investigation into the origins of #COVID19 – and into any and all efforts to prevent a full accounting,” Hawley tweeted.
“The public deserves to know if persons within the US govt tried to stop a full investigation into #COVID origins, as recently reported. And Congress must also find out to what extent Fauci’s NIAID was involved in financing research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” he added.
The public deserves to know if persons within the US govt tried to stop a full investigation into #COVID origins, as recently reported. And Congress must also find out to what extent Fauci’s NIAID was involved in financing research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) June 4, 2021
Hawley echoed calls from other Republicans calling for answers from Fauci, such as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who said in a statement to Fox News: “These emails show that Dr. Fauci coordinated with one of the Wuhan Lab’s funders to cover-up the plausible notion that the virus could have come from inside the lab. Dr. Fauci needs to stop playing games and answer questions about his role in funding the very lab that may have unleashed this pandemic on the world.”
Hawley’s tweets come as Fauci faces criticism following the release of emails obtained by The Washington Post and Buzzfeed via FOIA request. From The Daily Wire:
Journalist-obtained emails from Dr. Anthony Fauci reveal that the bureaucrat said in February 2020 that surgical face masks are not effective for healthy people seeking to resist COVID-19 infection. Fauci has since repeatedly stated the apparent importance of masks in relation to the pandemic – and also argued his February comment reflected information available at the time.
Another email with the subject line “My take on masks” from fellow bureaucrat Andrea Lerner, dated April 2021, has been nearly completely redacted, sparking some speculation online.
In another email from mid-March 2020, a physicist told Fauci that China was lying about the number of COVID-19 deaths in China, writing that he had been “modeling this outbreak since January.” In response, Fauci forwarded the message to a member of the NIH, writing, “Too long for me to read.”
“The President and the administration feel that Dr. Fauci has played an incredible role in getting the pandemic under control, being a voice to the public throughout the course of this pandemic,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday regarding the effect of the email dump on the White House’s confidence in Fauci. “And, again, I would reiterate a lot of these emails are from 17 months ago or more, certainly predating this administration, but some time ago in — as we look to history.”
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