Republicans are continuing to put pressure on the former chief COVID-19 adviser to the president, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) shared in a recent interview that they are compiling a case before they look to question him once more.
On Saturday, Jordan spoke with “The Benny Show” about the doctor who stepped down from his role after decades of service at the end of last year.
During the interview, Jordan was asked about potentially seeking charges for Fauci after some said he lied about the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. While he said it’s possible, he would first like to see the doctor for another round of questioning.
“I would, frankly, prefer just to have Dr. Fauci come back in and take another round of questions here, but we’re building the case,” Jordan said. “You know, like, we had Dr. Redfield testify last week, Chairman Wenstrup did. I thought he was — I thought he was great. As were the other witnesses that were brought in.”
The interview came following the release of intelligence earlier this month from the Energy Department and FBI, which concluded that a laboratory leak in China was “most likely” the cause of the pandemic.
Since the release of the reports, many Republicans have turned to answers given by Fauci before Congress, where he denied that a lab leak was the source or a possibilty for the source of the pandemic, asking why he was so adamant that wasn’t the case.
Earlier this month, Jordan also joined Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” to discuss the release from the agencies.
“The fundamental question is, why was Dr. Fauci so consumed with making sure the narrative wasn’t about the lab?” Jordan asked. “I think it’s because they were doing gain of function research there. He didn’t want that out, and that was the narrative that everyone to the Left bought into—even though the facts and common sense, maybe most importantly, pointed to the lab leak theory.”
During his interview on Saturday, Jordan says he thinks the CDC purposefully “changed the definition of gain-of-function research” so that Fauci would have “wiggle room.”
“But they were juicing up this virus, no doubt about it, juicing up this virus, making it more — I don’t know the technical, but making it juiced up and more deadly, I guess, maybe the correct word,” he said.
Fauci served as the head of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for 38 years. When the pandemic began, he quickly became the face of the nation’s fight against the virus, holding daily press briefings about the country’s response.
The doctor has testified before Congress already, often getting into a heated discussion with Republican members like Sen. Rand Paul (R-PA), who Fauci said had “no idea” what he was talking about when it came to the virus being a product of gain-of-function research.
Still, Republicans have stood firm in their beliefs on the origin of the virus, and uncovering how it came to be, has become a main focus for the party.
While there is no current plan to see Fauci answer questions before Congress again, Jordan said Saturday that we would have to wait and see as things progress.
“So, we’ll just have to see as we move through this investigation,” Jordan said.
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