Former National Institutes of Allergy & Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci responded to comments from Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and ex-CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield from a Wednesday hearing on coronavirus origins, saying claims of a "bribe" of scientists and a "freeze-out" of Redfield are "preposterous."
Redfield testified he did not know he was excluded from a Feb. 1, 2020, conference call with other health care bureaucrats until a FOIA application revealed such some time later.
"I was quite upset as the CDC director that I was excluded, excluded from those discussions. Why would they do this? Because I had a different point of view and I was told they made a decision that they would keep this confidential until they came up with a single narrative," Redfield said.
On "Your World," Fauci rejected Redfield's characterization while underlining he respects his fellow physician.
FAUCI, ALLIES' COVID THEORY APPROACH ‘ANTITHETICAL TO SCIENCE’: EX-CDC CHIEF
"I really feel badly about that because I've known Bob a long time. He is totally and unequivocally incorrect in what he's saying, that I excluded him. I had nothing to do with who would be on that call," Fauci said.
Fauci added that in retrospect, "it would have been OK" for Redfield to be online, while calling the doctor's testimony "disturbing."
Fauci also rejected claims Redfield's support for the lab-leak theory precluded him from participation, saying other experts on the call have made similar assertions.
He responded to Jordan's comments Wednesday that days after some scientists made the lab-leak hypothesis, they changed their minds.
RAND PAUL ACCUSES FAUCI OF ‘ENGAGING IN COVER-UP’ OF COVID ORIGINS
"And then three months later, ‘shazam,' they get $9 million from Dr. Fauci. Well, isn't that something?" Jordan asked in-part at the time.
Fauci replied he "laughed" at Jordan's comments, calling them bizarre, and claiming he did not take a strong stance toward the natural-origin or lab-leak hypotheses.
"As the data evolved, and evolutionary virologists began to look at the data, it looked much more likely that it was a natural occurrence from an animal reservoir. I have always kept a completely open mind that it could be one or the other."
He characterized Jordan's comments as alleging a multi-million-dollar "bribe" for changing their mind, calling the claim again "ludicrous of anybody who knows anything about the granting system [at] NIH" — calling the episode "Typical-Jim-Jordan."
Fauci explained how the original SARS coronavirus of the early 21st Century came about through natural-origin, a leap from animal to human, saying it is reasonable to assume until objective data shows one way or the other that COVID-19 could have come about the same way.
He also said he would willfully appear before Rep. Brad Wenstrup's, R-Ohio, subcommittee on which Jordan sits, if asked.
The retired doctor criticized China's behavior in the wake of the coronavirus coming about, saying that authorities "completely cleaned out the wet market" in Wuhan of "animals that should not have been there to begin with," suggesting it is well-known the original SARS was of zoonotic origin.
"So if there's anything that the Chinese are covering up, they're covering up the fact that they violated their own rules about getting wild animals from the forest or whatever [and] putting it into contact with humans."
