Fauci to face off with lawmakers over COVID origins: 'LOOK AT EVERYTHING'

[0:00] Well, Dr. Anthony Fauci will be back in front of lawmakers this week when he testifies before [0:05] Senator Rand Paul's committee again on the origins of COVID-19. And remember, the last time that [0:11] happened, we pulled the tape. Watch. I want everyone to understand that if you look at those viruses, [0:18] and that's judged by qualified virologists and evolutionary biologists, those viruses are [0:25] molecularly impossible to result in SARS-CoV-2. We're saying they are gain-of-function viruses [0:33] because they were animal viruses that became more transmissible and human, and you funded it. [0:38] And you are implying that what we did was responsible for the deaths of individual. [0:46] I totally resent that. And if anybody is lying here, Senator, it is you. [0:52] Fauci denies all wrongdoing, including claims he directed NIH employees to destroy federal records. [0:59] Jamie Metzl has been called the original COVID-19 whistleblower and was the lead Democrat on the [1:04] Heritage Foundation's COVID-19 Origins Commission. He joins us now. So, Jamie, what do you anticipate [1:10] we're going to see this week when Fauci gets before Rand Paul again? [1:16] Well, we're going to see more of this combative back and forth between Senator Paul and [1:20] Tony and Dr. Fauci. And frankly, I think we should just be open-minded about a few things. One [1:27] is that the COVID-19 pandemic was a terrible and totally avoidable pandemic. Two, that the United [1:34] States government gave some funding to the Wuhan lab where it looks like the COVID-19 pandemic [1:40] originated. Three, that by the terms of our grants, those grants directly could not have led to COVID-19, [1:48] but that doesn't mean we shouldn't look at everything. And should we be funding labs in [1:53] China where we don't have complete transparency? I've said repeatedly that we need to look at [1:57] everything and everything. This is primarily a Chinese virus, meaning that the Chinese state [2:04] is primarily responsible for COVID-19 pandemic. But that doesn't mean that there aren't flaws and [2:10] shortcomings on our side, and we need to look at everything. [2:12] You know, I'm glad you framed it that way, Jamie, so we can show our viewers just looking [2:17] kind of at COVID-19 during the pandemic then versus now, we've learned a couple of very [2:23] important points. One is in 2020, natural immunity was downplayed. That lab leak theory was not only [2:30] dismissed, but you were just labeled a conspiracy theorist and ridiculed if you were even suggesting [2:35] that. Masks were widely recommended. We all had to wear this mask. Lockdowns and school closures [2:41] were supported. Fast forward to what we know now, natural immunity actually provides protection. [2:46] The lab origin is considered once again a plausible cause. Masks offer limited protection, [2:53] we've learned, and lockdowns came with major socioeconomic costs that we will be feeling for years. [3:00] So, you know, do you anticipate that we will at least see a more forthcoming Dr. Anthony Fauci [3:09] about what we've learned, or do you think he just digs his heels then? [3:15] Well, we collectively have learned a lot since the earliest days of COVID when so many people [3:20] were dying and we didn't have a lot of answers. I personally support masking. I think the vaccines [3:26] that Dr. Fauci led the creation of saved tens of millions of lives globally. And I think being [3:33] careful in those early days was absolutely essential. But what happened, what I think was wrong, [3:38] was that Dr. Fauci presented a level of certainty saying, here are things that we know, which we [3:44] didn't fully know. And on COVID origins, I agree that his statement in early, that you played earlier [3:52] saying, we know that this comes from a natural origin, or we believe it comes from a natural origin. [3:57] That's wrong. Look, I'm a Democrat. I was one of the first people to say, hey, wait a second, [4:03] let's not take this market origin hypothesis at face value, because all the evidence as I was seeing, [4:08] it was pointing toward a lab accident. So again, nobody's perfect. Dr. Fauci isn't perfect. I believe [4:14] he's a national hero for the tens of millions of lives he's saved. But that doesn't mean any of us [4:20] should not have our records reviewed. And I think the United States got some things right, [4:25] like Operation Warp Speed, developing the vaccines in record time in the early days of COVID. [4:31] And we got some things wrong, potentially included the massive school closures and a lot of other [4:36] things. So we need to be learning. But if we only look at ourselves, if we only say that COVID origins [4:42] is a U.S. problem and not a China problem and a global problem, that's like an autoimmune disease. [4:47] And the only entity that that's helping is China. [4:51] Jimmy Metzl, we shall be watching this hearing. Dr. Fauci will be under oath. Hopefully he will be [4:57] fully forthcoming. Thank you for coming on and sharing your insights. [5:01] Thank you. [5:01] Be sure to like and subscribe for all the Fox News latest on YouTube and catch full shows streaming now [5:08] on Fox One.