Fauci testifies about COVID pandemic response at heated House hearing

WASHINGTON DC (CBS NEWS) — Dr. Anthony Fauci testified on Monday before a Republican-led House panel investigating the origins of COVID-19 and the government’s pandemic response, in a widely anticipated hearing where the intense partisan divide over the pandemic was once again on display.

The hearing marked Fauci’s first public appearance on Capitol Hill since leaving government in 2022, where he served as the chief medical advisor to President Biden and as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Fauci, who was revered by the left and denigrated by the right during the pandemic, was grilled by Republicans on the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, while Democrats came to his aid, decrying what they saw as a politically motivated effort to denigrate him.

Last week, the committee released transcripts from a closed-door interview conducted with Fauci in January that it said has been a “critical component” of the committee’s investigations into the origins of the virus, government policies during the pandemic and improvements to the U.S. public health system. The interview lasted 14 hours over the course of two days. The panel’s chairman, Rep. Brad Wenstrup of Ohio, told CBS News that the interview and the exchanges were cordial and professional.

GOP committee staff concluded in a memo of key takeaways that the “lab leak theory” about where the virus originated is “not a conspiracy theory,” pointing to comments from Fauci during the interview that it “could be a lab leak or it could be a natural occurrence,” though he noted that he believes the evidence he’s seen suggests to him that it’s more likely a natural occurrence.

The memo also claimed that certain pandemic policies lacked supporting scientific evidence, like the guidance to maintain a six-foot distance from others, vaccine mandates and masks for children.

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