Fauci defends email statements

The government’s top infectious disease expert worried last year about research taking place at a lab in Wuhan, China, where COVID-19 first spread. News outlets obtained copies of thousands of pages of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s emails and reported this week on his early pandemic concerns. Republicans say the emails show U.S. taxpayer money might have funded experiments at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

What kind of research? Fauci discussed the possibility that U.S. funding might have helped to pay for gain-of-function studies in Wuhan. Such research alters a virus or organism in a laboratory in a way that could make it more dangerous. Some Republicans say the emails also suggest Fauci might have given more credence to the COVID-19 lab leak theory privately than he was willing to admit publicly. Fauci fired back at Republicans on Thursday, calling their criticism “nonsense” and saying he has consistently believed “the most likely origin is from an animal species to a human.”

Dig deeper: Read Heather L. Frank’s report about the debate over the coronavirus’ origins.