Former President Donald Trump is demanding that China pays ten trillion dollars for its role in the coronavirus pandemic as he...
Former President Donald Trump is demanding that China pays ten trillion dollars for its role in the coronavirus pandemic as he added to growing calls for Dr. Anthony Fauci to explain exactly how much he knew about work being done at the Wuhan Institute of virology.
In a statement, Trump derided his scientific adviser by claiming he saved hundreds of thousands of lives by resisting Fauci's guidance on everything from closing borders, developing vaccines and wearing masks.
'Now everyone, even the so-called "enemy,” are beginning to say that President Trump was right about the China Virus coming from the Wuhan Lab,' he said in a second statement sent minutes after the first.
'The correspondence between Dr. Fauci and China speaks too loudly for anyone to ignore.
'China should pay ten trillion Dollars to America, and the world, for the death and destruction they have caused.'
President Donald Trump publicly feuded with Dr. Anthony Fauci throughout 2020 and is now claiming victory amid growing questions over how much his adviser knew about work being done at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The Chinese laboratory is at the center of conspiracy theories that the novel coronavirus escaped from a scientific facility rather than jumped the species barrier naturally
Dr. Anthony Fauci has been a favorite target of conservatives for the past year. They accuse him of flip flopping on whether masks and border closures were effective and now say the release of his emails show he has not been telling the truth on the origins of COVID-19
Fauci has been a favorite target of conservatives throughout the pandemic, attracting fire for his support for social distancing and mask wearing.
They have accused him of flip-flopping for the way he initially resisted closing borders and wearing masks before endorsing both.
But his role in the early days of the crisis is under fresh scrutiny after two news organizations obtained his emails under a Freedom of Information request.
In particular, Republicans claim the communications show Fauci knew the Wuhan Institute of Virology - at the center of the lab leak hypothesis for the origins of the COVID-19 crisis - was carrying out experiments with genetically engineered coronaviruses.
They also show he was warned of the possibility of a lab leak at a time when he was publicly insisting the pandemic emerged naturally by jumping from an animal host to human.
President Biden has ordered the intelligence community to redouble efforts into finding out whether the novel coronavirus emerged naturally or from a lab. Researchers at the Wuhan Institute for Virology are seen in this February 2017 file photo
Three members of staff Wuhan Institute of Virology were reported to have sought medical help for COVID-like symptoms in November 2019, adding to growing speculation that the virus escaped from the facility triggered a pandemic
And on April 18, 2020, Fauci was emailed by the head of a research group which works with the Wuhan lab thanking him for publicly saying the evidence did not support the idea of a leak.
Yet in recent weeks he has insisted that the lab, which received U.S. funding, was not doing secret 'gain of function' research of the sort his critics believe triggered the pandemic.
Trump piled on with a statement demanding to find out how much Fauci really knew about the Wuhan lab.
'There are a lot of questions that must be answered by Dr. Fauci,' he said.
'The funding of Wuhan by the U.S. was foolishly started by the Obama administration in 2014 but ended under the Trump administration.
'When I heard about it, I said “no way.”
'What did Dr. Fauci know about “gain of function” research, and when did he know it?'
Minutes earlier, the White House defended Fauci against his accusers.
Press Secretary Jen Psaki said he retained the confidence of Biden and added: 'He's been an undeniable asset in our country's pandemic response.'
For his part, Fauci says his emails - obtained by Buzzfeed News and the Washington Post - have been taken out of context.
'I have always said, and will say today to you ... that I still believe the most likely origin is from an animal species to a human, but I keep an absolutely open mind that if there may be other origins of that, there may be another reason, it could have been a lab leak,' he told CNN
Fauci and Trump cut awkward colleagues at the best of times, with Fauci repeatedly introducing a note of caution to the president's bold pronouncement about the efficacy of unproven treatments such as hydroxychloroquine
Uncertainty of the origins of the pandemic have created a slew of theories about what happened.
The scientific consensus remains that it emerged from the wild, like other coronavirus outbreaks such
However, interest in the idea that it could have leaked from a laboratory researching bat coronaviruses has surged since a number of high-profile scientists last month admitted they could not be sure where it came from.
As a result, Biden announced he had tasked the intelligence community with 'redoubling' its efforts to find out which of the two theories is true.
House Republicans are also demanding that Fauci testify before them again on the origins.
Rep. Steve Scalise, the senior Republican on the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, and House Oversight Committee Ranking Member James Comer wrote to their Democratic counterparts asking that he appear again.
They wrote that Fauci's emails 'debunk many Democrats' claims from the past year,' according to Fox News which obtained their letter.
'More importantly, the emails contain new evidence regarding the origins of COVID-19, including the possibility it leaked from a U.S. taxpayer funded laboratory,' they wrote.
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