Dr. Anthony Fauci pushed back at a GOP-led House subcommittee hearing Monday morning against allegations that he acted improperly when he served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky pressed Fauci repeatedly about a “troubling pattern of behavior,” including using his personal email for official business, deleting emails in defiance of public records laws, and trying to protect a NIAID grantee from repercussions. Fauci denied all the allegations.

When Comer asked if he’d heard correctly that Fauci never had communication with the U.S. intelligence community during the COVID-19 pandemic, Fauci said, “You heard wrong.”
“I said I did have communication. I was briefed by the intelligence community multiple times during the COVID issue,” he added.

The hearing was the latest effort among Republicans to question the U.S. response to the pandemic, including how pandemic prevention plans were created and communicated.

Monday’s session was in part focused on the origins of the pandemic and the nation’s role in virus research in China. There are a number of theories about how COVID’s spread began, including a natural jump from animals to humans and a laboratory leak. Intelligence assessments on how the virus began are inconclusive.

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