Recently, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the general counsel of the US government on the new crown epidemic, was censored and controversial after he announced his work email. The White House defended him.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that Fauci is an “undeniable asset” in the United States‘ response to the new crown pandemic.
But the e-mail raised questions about whether he supports the theory that China denies that the new coronavirus leaked from the Wuhan laboratory.
In accordance with the request for free information, the edited 3,200 pages of emails related to the new crown virus outbreak in Fauci’s work emails were released to the media.
In an email last April, an executive of a health charity thanked Fauci for publicly declaring that the scientific evidence does not support the laboratory leak theory.
Fauci also told CNN that one of his emails related to the virus leaked in the laboratory was taken out of context. There is currently no evidence that the new crown virus came from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, although US President Biden has ordered an investigation into the matter.
China rejects the claim that the new coronavirus originated from the Wuhan Virus Laboratory. The virus was discovered in the South China Seafood Market in Wuhan, and Chinese scientists speculated that the virus may have been transmitted from animals to humans.
Psaki said at a daily press conference on Thursday: “The President and the government believe that Dr. Fauci has played an incredible role in controlling the epidemic. He is the spokesperson for the public throughout the epidemic.”
The ally of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) infectious disease expert said that Dr. Fauci’s information showed that he was nothing more than a civil servant who was diligent in finding directions at the beginning of a once-in-a-century pandemic.
But conservative critics believe that Fauci may be involved in the cover-up operation, and even claim that he gave false testimony when testifying to the US Congress.
What did Fauci say to CNN?
Fauci insisted on Thursday (June 3) that there was nothing wrong with the email communication between him and the executives of a non-profit medical organization that helped fund research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the public health agency of the United States. In 2014-19, through a grant to the New York non-profit organization “EcoHealth Alliance” (EcoHealth Alliance) to provide 600,000 US dollars (£425,000) to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for research on bat coronavirus.
The head of the Eco-Health Alliance, Peter Daszak, emailed Dr. Fauci in April 2020, praising him for his “brave” attempt to overthrow the laboratory leak.
“Thank you very much for your email,” Fauci replied.
Fauci told CNN on Thursday that it is “nonsense” to infer any close relationship between him and the people behind the Wuhan Virus Research Institute from this email.
He said: “You can misunderstand it as you want. That email is that no matter what he thinks I said, the other party will say’thank you’ to me, and I think the most likely origin of (coronavirus) is the spread of animals across species. I still think so. At the same time, I am also open and do not rule out that the (coronavirus) may stem from laboratory leaks.”
He added: “I think it’s far-fetched to say that the Chinese deliberately designed something to kill themselves and others. I think it’s a bit far-fetched.”
How did the laboratory leak theory develop?
According to a survey published by Vanity Fair magazine on Thursday, US State Department officials discussed the origin of the new coronavirus at a meeting on December 9, 2020.
Vanity Fair reported that they were told not to discuss matters related to the Wuhan laboratory’s gain-of-function experiment, in order to avoid unwelcome attention to the US government’s funding of such research.
Functional gain research involves changing the pathogen to make it more transmissible in order to understand how the virus mutates. That is, the genetic characteristics of different types of coronaviruses are cross-mixed, and the new characteristics of the new virus are observed.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that three employees of the Wuhan Institute of Virology fell ill and were admitted to the hospital in November 2019, which was earlier than the first reported cases of new crowns.
A few days ago, Biden instructed US intelligence agencies to conduct a 90-day investigation on whether the new crown virus may emerge from a Chinese laboratory. At a regular press conference on Thursday (May 27), China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Zhao Lijian criticized the United States for “it is trying to use the epidemic to stigmatize and manipulate politics, and to blame.”
What did Fauci say about laboratory leaks before?
In a testimony to the US Congress on May 12, Dr. Fauci emphasized that he denied that the United States had funded the controversial enhancement of the Wuhan laboratory.
In a subsequent Senate hearing on May 26, Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy asked how Fauci determined that Wuhan scientists did not use funds for functional enhancement research.
“You never know,” Fauci admitted, adding that he believes Chinese researchers are “trustworthy.”
What are the other political reactions?
Former U.S. President Don Trump was widely denigrated last year when he proposed that the new crown virus may come from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. He said on Thursday that Fauci had many questions to answer.
“What did Dr. Fauci know about the’functional gain’ research, and when did he know it?” Trump wrote in a statement.
He added: “China should pay 10 trillion U.S. dollars to the United States and the world to compensate for the death and destruction they caused!”
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs refuted the Wuhan laboratory virus leak last week. The Chinese side called it “extremely impossible.” At the same time, Steve Scalise, the deputy leader of the Republican Party in the U.S. House of Representatives, asked Dr. Fauci to testify before Congress in a letter, stating “the role of the U.S. government in funding research that may contribute to the new crown virus.”
The new crown virus has infected approximately 172 million people and caused more than 3.5 million deaths.