White House: Anthony Fauci’s Job Safe Under Joe Biden

The White House said Thursday Dr. Anthony Fauci’s job is safe in President Joe Biden’s administration, despite reports stating he lied to Congress about his agency funding “gain-of-function research” on coronaviruses.

During the daily White House briefing Thursday, Jen Psaki replied “correct” when a reporter suggested Fauci’s job is “safe.”

Biden remains supportive of Fauci despite growing distrust of his leadership during the coronavirus pandemic.

Documents obtained by The Intercept this week show the Fauci-led National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) provided funding to the EcoHealth alliance, which funded “gain-of-function” research on viruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.

Fauci has repeatedly denied during congressional testimony that the government has provided funding for gain-of-function research in Wuhan:

Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University, concluded on social media that the documents showed Fauci has not been telling the truth.

“The documents make it clear that assertions by the NIH Director, Francis Collins, and the NIAID Director, Anthony Fauci, that the NIH did not support gain-of-function research or potential pandemic pathogen enhancement at WIV are untruthful,” Ebright wrote:

The documents make it clear that assertions by the NIH Director, Francis Collins, and the NIAID Director, Anthony Fauci, that the NIH did not support gain-of-function research or potential pandemic pathogen enhancement at WIV are untruthful.

— Richard H. Ebright (@R_H_Ebright) September 7, 2021

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who has led the charge for Fauci to be jailed for lying to Congress, reacted to news of the report.

“Surprise surprise – Fauci lied again,” he wrote on social media. “And I was right about his agency funding novel Coronavirus research at Wuhan.”