President Joe Biden is declaring confidence in Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical advisor to the president, amid criticism from Republicans over the thousands of emails released from his work email.
A reporter asked Biden on Friday, “Do you have confidence in Dr. Fauci?”
He replied, “Yes, I’m very confident in Dr. Fauci.”
Watch his comments below:
Reporter: "Do you have confidence in Dr. Fauci?"
— The Hill (@thehill) June 4, 2021
President Biden: "Yes, I'm very confident in Dr. Fauci." pic.twitter.com/Hf015HysXX
Several Republican lawmakers slammed Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, for publicly dismissing the possibility that the virus had been “engineered” or may have emerged from a lab in China.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) tweeted, “Told you,” adding, “Can’t wait to see the media try to spin the Fauci FOIA emails.”
Can’t wait to see the media try to spin the Fauci FOIA emails.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) June 2, 2021
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) took to Twitter to call Fauci’s emails “shocking to say the least.”
She continued, “He needs to be FIRED! I introduced a bill to do just that … HR 2316, the ‘Fire Fauci Act.'”
Fauci's leaked emails are shocking to say the least. He needs to be FIRED!
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) June 2, 2021
I introduced a bill to do just that … HR 2316, the "Fire Fauci Act".
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) tweeted, “Fauci lost my trust long before this. Never contextualizing his statements, never giving honest risk assessments, always treating us like we are too stupid to do anything but lockdown and wear masks forever.”
He added, “The emails show it was worse than we thought.”
Fauci lost my trust long before this. Never contextualizing his statements, never giving honest risk assessments, always treating us like we are too stupid to do anything but lockdown and wear masks forever.
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) June 2, 2021
The emails show it was worse than we thought.
During a White House press briefing on Thursday, a reporter mentioned an email exchange between Fauci and National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins, reportedly discussing the COVID-19 lab-leak theory, as IJR reported.
Collins said his references to conspiracies were directed toward claims the virus was engineered as a “bioweapon.”
The reporter asked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, “Is that the position of the administration and their top health experts that this was not engineered or is that still an open question as part of this review?”
She responded, “On Dr. Fauci and his emails … He’s been an undeniable asset in our country’s pandemic response but it’s obviously not that advantageous for me to re-litigate the substance of emails from 17 months ago.”
Psaki went on, “We’ve launched, based on the president’s direction, an entire internal review process to use all of the resources across government to get to the bottom of the origins.”