OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Dr. Anthony Fauci was heard on a hot mic calling Kansas GOP Sen. Roger Marshall a “moron.”
During a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on the federal response to the pandemic, Fauci became visibly angry after an exchange about his finances.
Fauci can be heard calling Marshall — who served in the Army Reserves for seven years — a “moron” and the Republican lawmaker was demanding Fauci disclose more information about his finances. Fauci said his financial disclosures are available and can be accessed through Freedom of Information Act requests.
Below is a partial transcript of the exchange:
MARSHALL: “The Big Tech giants are doing an incredible job of keeping it from being public. We’ll continue to look for it. Where would we find it?”
FAUCI: “All you have to do is ask for it. You’re so misinformed, it’s extraordinary. All you have to do is ask for it.”
MARSHALL: “Why am I misinformed? This is a huge issue. Wouldn’t you agree with me that you have — you see things before members of Congress would see them, so that there’s an air of appearance that maybe some shenanigans are going on. You know, I don’t think that’s — I assume that that’s not the case. I assume it’s not the case.”
FAUCI: “Senator, what are you talking about? My financial disclosures are public knowledge and have been so. You are getting amazingly wrong information. What are you talking about?”
MARSHALL: “I cannot find them. Our office cannot find them. Where would they be if they’re public knowledge? Where?”
FAUCI: “It is totally accessible to you if you want it.”
MARSHALL: “For the public? Is that accessible to the public?”
FAUCI: “To the public. To the public. You are totally incorrect.”
MARSHALL: “Well, we look forward to reviewing it.”
UNKNOWN: “Senator Marshall, Dr. Fauci has answered to you his public information and he’s happy to give it to you if you would’ve asked. Senator Moran.”
FAUCI: “What a moron. Jesus Christ.”
WATCH:
Just before his testimony on Tuesday, Republican leaders on the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees released excerpts of emails that they say reveal that Fauci knew that COVID-19 may have been intentionally modified and leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
In a letter, GOP Reps. James Comer and Jim Jordan noted a Feb. 1, 2020, conference call that included Fauci and former National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, where the virus’ origins were discussed.
“It was on this conference call that Drs. Fauci and Collins were first warned that COVID-19 may have leaked from the WIV and, further, may have been intentionally genetically manipulated,” the Republicans’ letter said.
The congressmen said that “it is unclear if either Dr. Fauci or Dr. Collins ever passed these warnings along to other government officials or if they simply ignored them.”
The letter said other scientists participated in the call, four of whom wrote a paper titled, “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2” that they sent to Fauci and Collins three days after the call.
Republicans are questioning whether Fauci and/or Collins played a role in the “lab leak” theory being dropped.
