Townhall read through the thousands of pages of emails Dr. Fauci sent and received about the Wuhan coronavirus that Buzzfeed and the Washington Post obtained via FOIA requests so you don't have to, and here's our roundup of the best of the worst takes the left's scientific savior offered as COVID spread around the world.
1. Scientists told Fauci that COVID-19 might be engineered but he ignored them
As Katie reported, Fauci "was told by NIH scientist Kristian Andersen on January 31, 2020, that Wuhan coronavirus looked 'potentially engineered.' In other words, it was manipulated in a lab through gain of function research."
"And yet, that's not what he said publicly as he rejected the possibility of a lab leak in interviews, during testimony to Congress and during official White House Task Force briefings. On April 18, 2020, three months after being told the virus looked engineered, Fauci told reporters at the White House, unequivocally, it didn't come from a lab. Most of the media then reported his remarks as 'debunking' a conspiracy theory."
2. Fauci was circulating articles on "gain of function" research on February 1, 2020
At the time talking about the possibility that the Wuhan coronavirus came from a lab-engineered concoction could get you banned from social media, Dr. Fauci was sending attachments titled "SARS Gain of Function.pdf" to colleagues. One recipient would email back saying "the paper you sent me says the experiments were performed before the gain of function pause but have since been reviewed and approved by NIH," adding another colleague "will try to determine if we have any distant ties to this work abroad."
Fauci replied "Ok. Stay tuned."
3. Fauci tattled on Ron DeSantis but stayed silent on Cuomo
An email dated March 19, 2020, revealed more about how the media darling viewed his commentator duties as well as his tattletale style of dealing with state leaders who didn't go along with his "scientific" guidance, providing fodder for Democrats and their media allies to drag DeSantis while turning a blind eye to New York. It's worth noting that Fauci's emails do not contain similar disdain for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo whose mishandling of COVID led to the deaths of nursing home residents.
"Regarding the bars and beaches, I have been screaming on TV 2 to 5 times per night to tell the younger generation to start taking this seriously. I am very surprised that Gov. DeSantis has not completely closed the bars, even if they serve food... I will bring this up at the Task Force meeting tomorrow."
4. Fauci knew masks didn't work and told people not to wear them
Townhall also reported on the communications with individuals and media outlets in which Fauci advised against mask wearing for travel, told a medical school dean not to mandate masks, and stated the flimsy masks most Americans were forced to wear were ineffective at stopping the spread of Wuhan coronavirus.
"'Masks are really for infected people to prevent them from spreading infection to people who are not infected rather than protecting uninfected people from acquiring infection,' he said. 'The typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through the material.' Fauci concluded, saying 'I do not recommend that you wear a mask' to travel by air."
5. The Chinese penpals
In emails to George Gao, the director of China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention from March 2020, the two struck an unnervingly collegial tone despite China's role in unleashing COVID. "Hope the US situation is getting better eventually... Lets work together to get the virus out of the earth," emailed Gao. "We will get through this together," responded Fauci.
In another exchange in April 2020, the Chinese official wrote to say "I saw some news (hope it is fake) that [you] are being attacked by some people. Hope you are well under such an irrational situation." Fauci replied "All is week despite some crazy people in this world."
6. In March 2020, Fauci thought COVID would stop on its own without a vaccine
"Social distancing is not really geared to wait for a vaccine... Close proximity of people will keep the R0 higher than 1 and even as high as 2 to 3. If we can get the R0 to less than 1, the epidemic will gradually decline and stop on its own without a vaccine."