On Monday, Dr. Anthony Fauci made an announcement that he would be stepping down as the director of the national institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation, and chief medical advisor to Joe Biden.
In July, Fauci claimed that he would retire by the end of Biden’s first term, and he appears to be expediting this decision by nearly 2 years.
This announcement follows statements made by Republicans who have vowed to investigate his actions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier this year, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY.) made a promise to subpoena Fauci’s records if Republicans win control of the Senate in November.
Sen. Paul stated, “If we win in November, if I’m chairman of a committee, if I have subpoena power, we’ll go after every one of [Fauci’s] records..We’ll have an investigator go through this piece-by-piece because we don’t need this to happen again.”
Assuming Republicans do retake the 50-50 senate, Rand Paul is set to become the chairman of the Senate Health Committee since the current ranking member, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), is retiring.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) has also voiced his support for investigating Fauci where in an interview with Breitbart News he said, “The top investigation — which I think will primarily be done on the Oversight Committee — is on Fauci and the gain of function and the lab leak, which is the most likely scenario how we got this virus.”
Despite Fauci “stepping down”, Rand Paul is adamant that the he will be investigated to the fullest extent.
Paul posted on his Twitter account, “Fauci’s resignation will not prevent a full-throated investigation into the origins of the pandemic. He will be asked to testify under oath regarding any discussions he participated in concerning the lab leak”
Fauci’s resignation will not prevent a full-throated investigation into the origins of the pandemic. He will be asked to testify under oath regarding any discussions he participated in concerning the lab leak.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) August 22, 2022
This comes after last week, where the CDC director, Rochelle Walensky, ordered a complete overhaul of the organization citing a flawed response to COVID-19.
Walensky stated,“For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for COVID-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations.”
An anonymous CDC official commented, “Maybe the way that a lot of the [Covid-19] response was structured, and some of the incentives that people have here, are just not aligned properly to really put the focus toward getting information to people quickly and how that information can benefit Americans’ health.”
Pew Research Center found that throughout the pandemic, approval of the CDC’s handling of COVID dropped from 79% to 52%.
Likewise, a poll from January found that the majority of Americans thought that Fauci should be removed from his role in the federal government leading the response to the pandemic.
The poll discovered that, “58.9 percent of Independent voters believe Dr. Fauci should resign his position and role in leading the government’s COVID-19 response to allow for new leadership,” while “41.1 percent believe Dr. Fauci should not resign.”
It is clear that Americans became tired of the various policy responses to COVID that restricted their freedoms.
If Sen. Rand Paul’s investigation does ensue, it will be interesting to see what is discovered in it.
-Macro Conservative
