By: Trevor Schakohl, Daily Caller News Foundation
Email evidence seems to contradict Dr. Anthony Fauci’s denials that he had any role in deciding who would be part of a Feb. 1, 2020 conference call that discussed whether COVID-19 originated from a laboratory leak, the House Coronavirus Pandemic Select Subcommittee suggested in a Friday letter.
Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield testified to the committee March 8 that he was “quite upset” about being “excluded” from Fauci and former National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins’ lab leak theory talks, and had not known about the February 2020 call between them and international scientists. The letter revealed Fauci’s Feb. 1, 2020 emails telling then-Wellcome Trust Director Jeremy Farrar that Collins would be part of the call and should be included in “all subsequent correspondence” about it, appearing to suggest that Fauci may have had some say over who would participate, according to the committee.
Fauci claimed in television interviews earlier this month that he didn’t add or remove anyone from the conference call’s list or “exclude anybody,” the letter said. Redfield had testified that Fauci and Collins and others would exclude him from the discussions because he had “a different point view” about pursuing the lab leak theory.
Emails released March 5 by committee Republicans appeared to show that Fauci commissioned a February 2020 paper that set out to disprove the lab leak theory. The conference call’s participants were told the COVID-19 virus most likely leaked from a Wuhan, China lab, according to communications the Republicans published.
The Energy Department has concluded that COVID-19 most likely originated from a lab leak, the Wall Street Journal reported. FBI Director Christopher Wray voiced the same conclusion to Fox News in February.
Fauci was asked to hand over all documents and communications about his involvement in planning the call, according to the letter.
NIH didn’t immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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