Rep. Brad Wenstrup expresses surprise at Fauci’s lack of memory

House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup said he was “surprised” how much former chief White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci “doesn’t recall” about the early days of the pandemic’s outbreak that killed more than 1.1 million Americans, the New York Post reported.

The Ohio Republican, commenting on the first day of Fauci’s two-day interview with the committee, said “it’s been very cooperative in there. We’ve asked a lot of questions. Dr. Fauci responds in the best way he can. I will say that there may be over 100 or so far ‘I don’t recall’ or ‘I don’t remember’ answers,” The Hill reported

Wenstrup added “that just means that maybe we have to find the people that do recall.”

Fauci, who sat for a seven-hour closed-door meeting with the committee facing questions concerning the COVID-19 pandemic, agreed last year to two days of transcribed interviews back-to-back with the panel.

Fauci was joined by two of his own lawyers and two government attorneys during the interview.

Wenstrup said that a particular issue that stood out to him was Fauci’s definition of gain-of-function research.

Republicans have repeatedly asserted that U.S.-funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, potentially caused a lab-leak that led to the pandemic, as well as questioning how much Fauci knew and was involved in the research.

Fauci said during the meeting he was open-minded on where the virus could have originated, according to those who participated in the interview.

“One thing that’s been most interesting is a new definition that we’ve heard, and Dr. Fauci refers to this as his operational definition of gain-of-function,” Wenstrup said. “And I don’t know that every scientist that deals with this type of viral research, understands his definition of operational … definition of gain-of-function.”

However, Democrats who were at the meeting said Fauci was able to “clarify” what his definition of gain-of-function was.

“A lot of our GOP colleagues have failed to recognize the operative, regulatory definition [of] gain-of-function that was instituted in 2017 was operative at the time the COVID pandemic came along. And the concern over EcoHealth Alliance so that’s — Dr. Fauci was able to clarify that today,” Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., said.

Grant funding awarded by the National Institutes of Health went toward coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).

EcoHealth Alliance, the nongovernmental organization that sub-awarded the funds to the WIV, has repeatedly said the money did not go toward gain-of-function research. Federal funds to the WIV were stopped in 2020.

Wenstrup said the interview with Fauci demonstrated to him that there were “some tremendous flaws in our system” about awarding grants.