With outrage continuing to build over countless new revelations in coronavirus czar Anthony Fauci‘s newly published trove of emails, the White House appeared to distance itself Thursday from the embattled virologist.
“Let me just say, on Dr. Fauci and his emails, he has also spoken to this many, many times over the course of the last few days and we will let him speak for himself,” Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in response to a reporter’s question about the scandal.
The slow-burning response to the emails comes two days after 3,234 pages of correspondence from the early days of the pandemic outbreak were first made public by Buzzfeed following a Freedom of Information Act request.
The Washington Post separately obtained more than 900 pages but declined to release the full archive, instead selectively curating its findings to portray Fauci in a more positive and flattering light.
Others in the left-wing media also scrambled to lay cover—including the reliably deceptive “fact-checking” site PolitiFact, which tried to re-frame reports that Fauci sought to suppress evidence indicating the virus likely leaked from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Scientist Kristian Anderson told Fauci SARS-CoV-2 has “unusual features” that “potentially look engineered”.
Not long after this email, the scientists authored a piece insisting the virus was natural and Fauci said the same publicly. This is a massive cover-up.
(Buzzfeed FOIA) pic.twitter.com/BD3OUzgDzR
— Sharri Markson (@SharriMarkson) June 2, 2021
But amid a torrent of damning discoveries, some outlets had elected, instead, to begin stealth-editing more than a year’s worth of smear attacks falsely “debunking” the erstwhile “conspiracy theories” of skeptics.
Despite the left-wing gaslighting, President Joe Biden’s eroding support for the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases director likely helped contribute to his downfall.
Although Fauci has tried to milk the pandemic by continuing to advocate for extreme precautions, such as double-mask-wearing even after vaccination, that advice was at odds with the Biden administration’s urgent need to reopen the economy following an abysmal first-quarter jobs report.
With inflation skyrocketing and gas shortages leading to unfavorable comparisons with the Jimmy Carter administration, the timing of an announcement last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to roll back its mask and social-distancing mandates seemed more than coincidental.
Some critics are now openly speculating whether Fauci may have perjured himself during a May 11 Senate hearing, when he finally admitted that he didn’t know whether China had been conducting controversial gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab but unequivocally denied any US involvement in it.
Further revealing the public-relations crisis Fauci now faces was a decision by online retailers, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble, to remove webpages promoting a newly announced memoir about his handling of the pandemic.
Yet, Fauci seemed to double down amid the extra scrutiny, appearing on friendly propaganda outlets such as CNN to reiterate his current stances and to justify his past judgments, which included offering the kid-glove treatment to China.
Fauci refuses to go after China for destroying evidence & refusing to cooperate with investigators; says the U.S. shouldn’t be “accusatory” as it will make them “pull back more” pic.twitter.com/BkoFdj4c7l
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) June 3, 2021
He insisted that the idea of an intentional Chinese lab-leak was “far-fetched,” moving the goal post yet again as many now focus on whether China might have accidentally leaked the virus while pursuing research into biological weapons.
But conservatives, including frequent Fauci nemesis Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., were basking in the moment of long-awaited validation while continuing to push for accountability.
Are Fauci’s days numbered? pic.twitter.com/bszGs7aRxL
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) June 3, 2021
Former president Donald Trump, often harangued for his handling of the pandemic due to Fauci’s second-guessing of his policies, released a statement emphasizing several bold, “life-saving” actions he took while ignoring the junk-science.
Among those were his early decision to restrict travel from China, as well as the decision to fast-track vaccine production through Operation Warp Speed.
“After seeing the emails, our Country is fortunate I didn’t do what Dr. Fauci wanted me to do,” Trump wrote.
