- Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted that there's no way to know if Chinese scientists lied and conducted what are called 'gain of function' experiments on coronaviruses
- 'There's no way of guaranteeing that,' Fauci said Wednesday at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, answering Republican Sen. John Kennedy
- He added that in the U.S. government's experience with grantees, including Chinese grantees, 'they are very competent, trustworthy scientists'
- Gain of function experiments would make a coronavirus more contagious or deadly
- The White House announced Wednesday that U.S. intelligence agencies could not determine for certain the origin of COVID-19
- That left the door open to speculation that COVID-19 escaped from the Wuhan Institute and U.S. tax dollars could have been used to make it more deadly
- Kennedy floated whether Wuhan lab scientists could have been 'influenced by the Communist Party of China'
- 'I don't have enough insight into the Communist Party in China to know the interactions between them and the scientists, sir,' Fauci said
Dr Anthony Fauci admitted that there is no way to know if Chinese scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology lied and conducted what are called 'gain of function' experiments on bat coronaviruses using U.S. tax dollars.
'There's no way of guaranteeing that,' Fauci said Wednesday at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, responding to a question from Republican Senator John Kennedy.
'But in our experience with grantees, including Chinese grantees, which we have had interactions with for a very long period of time – they are very competent, trustworthy scientists.'
'Gain of function' experiments are conducted to make viruses more contagious or deadly.
There continues to be speculation that COVID-19 could have escaped from a lab, with the White House releasing a statement Wednesday saying U.S. intelligence agencies couldn't state for certain the origin of that coronavirus.