Dr Fauci 'lied' to Congress by saying he didn't know why Trump canceled a $370k grant for the Wuhan Institute of Virology when he KNEW it was due to fears it was the source of COVID, new book claims
Dr Anthony Fauci was accused of lying Sunday after claims he falsely denied knowing the reasons behind President Trumps's decision to cut funding to the Chinese lab accused of releasing COVID-19.
The White House's chief medical advisor initially resisted Trump's order to halt taxpayer funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology in April 2020, according to an upcoming book, before telling a house committee in June that he 'didn't know the reason' behind the then-president's decision.
However, Fauci's account is contradicted by 'verbatim' quotes which show he was fully aware Trump took the decision out of concern about the lab's safety record and fears it was the source of the COVID pandemic, included in the new book 'Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration's Response to the Pandemic That Changed History' by Washington Post journalists Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta.
The White House's chief medical advisor initially resisted Trump's order to halt taxpayer funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology in April 2020, according to an upcoming book, before telling a house committee in June that he 'didn't know the reason' behind the then-president's decision. They are pictured together at a news conference
Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., told Fox News: 'Dr. Fauci is so obsessed with maintaining his own relevance and downplaying President Trump's role in combatting this crisis that he's once again been caught lying.
'We need someone leading the pandemic response and our investigation into its origins who is more concerned with the truth than their own PR campaign. It's time for Dr. Fauci to go.'
Fauci, who leads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, at first resisted a White House directive to cancel a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to EcoHealth Alliance — a nonprofit conducting research on coronaviruses that had previously worked with the Wuhan lab.
He later 'reluctantly agreed' after learning Trump, according to the new book, entitled Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration's Response to the Pandemic That Changed History.
Asked about the $370,000 grant by congressman in June 2020, Fauci said it was 'canceled because the NIH was told to cancel it,' and he didn't 'know the reason' behind Trump's order.
Fauci's account is contradicted by 'verbatim' quotes which show he was fully aware Trump took the decision out of concern about the lab's (pictured) safety record and fears it was the source of the COVID pandemic, the new book claims
Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., called the discrepancies between Fauci's hearing comments and his comments reported in the book 'very concerning,' adding that it 'goes to show just how important it is to have full investigation into the origins of COVID-19.'
Fauci did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Fox News.
It came as Bill Maher slammed Big Tech for censoring posts and searches relating to the COVID lab leak theory.
The comedian, 65, explicitly referenced Facebook and Google during a panel discussion on his Real Time program Friday night, accusing the companies of deliberately downplaying the possibility that the virus was manmade and escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
'Facebook banned any post for four months about COVID coming from a lab,' Maher blasted.
Speaking on his Real Time program Friday night, Bill Maher has slammed Big Tech for censoring posts and searches relating to the COVID-19 lab leak theory
He continued: 'A Wall Street Journal reporter asked the head of Google's health division - [after he] noticed that they don't do auto-fill searches for 'coronavirus lab leak' the way they do for any other question and the guy said, 'Well, we want to make sure that the search isn't leading people down pathways that we would find not authoritative information.'
Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration's Response to the Pandemic That Changed History will be released soon
'Well, you were wrong, Google and Facebook! We don't know! The reason why we want you is because we're checking on this s**t!'
Maher claimed that the head of Google's health division stated that they wanted searchers to see authoritative information from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
'That's who I'm checking on!' Maher blasted. 'But the WHO has been has been very corrupt about a lot of s**t and the CDC has been wrong about a lot of s**t!'
The comedian claimed that the liberal bias of Big Tech companies is also leading them to censor information about possible COVID treatments.
Maher mentioned YouTube and the recent removal of a video from the platform about the drug ivermectin, which some say is effective in combatting the coronavirus.
'YouTube should not be telling me what I can see about ivermectin. Ivermectin isn't a registered Republican, it's a drug!' Maher stated.
'I don't know if it works or not and a lot of other doctors don't either.'
Many experts theorize that the virus was manmade and escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. However, Big Tech companies initially downplayed that idea, censoring posts and searches
Earlier this year, Maher - who is a Democrat - claimed members of his own party were fearful of claiming COVID leaked from a Chinese lab because they didn't want to appear racist.
However, Maher insisted that it was possible to be critical of China and its government without stoking anti-Asian hate.
'China does bad things,' Maher stated, referencing the imprisonment of Uyghur Muslims in concentration camps.
'Liberals don't want to say anything because [the Chinese are] Asian and [liberals] don't think very clearly about this, so they conflate it with anti-Asian hate crimes here.... One has nothing to do with the other.'
'Facebook banned any post for four months about COVID coming from a lab,' Maher blasted. He is pictured at left with his panel
The lab leak theory was initially dismissed by many in the media and tech communities.
However, last month President Joe Biden ordered intelligence agencies to launch a probe into whether COVID was man-made after all.
Circumstantial evidence has long raised questions about the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where researchers were known to be conducting experiments on bat coronavirus strains similar to the one responsible for COVID-19.
China insisted early and often that the virus did not leak from the lab, claiming that crossover to humans must have occurred at a 'wet market' in Wuhan that sold live animals.
But new evidence, including reports of three workers at the Wuhan lab who fell seriously ill with COVID-like symptoms in November 2019, has forced a sober reassessment among doubters.
Additionally, U.S. experts Dr. Stephen Quay and Richard Muller penned a damning essay saying that science strongly suggests the novel coronavirus was manufactured inside a Chinese laboratory.
In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, the men say their proof lies in genome sequencing, or analyzing the DNA, of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
No comments