Anthony Fauci vows to tell the truth, but then stays silent.Image: keystone
July 30, 2026, 11:02 amJuly 30, 2026, 11:02 am
After the publication of diary entries by the US immunologist Anthony Fauci, who became famous due to the corona pandemic, a debate about the origin of the virus has flared up again in the USA. In a hearing of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Republican senators in particular tried to elicit answers from Fauci. Fauci, on the other hand, invoked the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution and exercised his right to remain silent. This stipulates that no one has to incriminate themselves.
Fauci was chief medical adviser to former US President Joe Biden and director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases. He had previously become a central figure in the fight against the coronavirus in the USA. The renowned scientist headed the National Institute of Infectious Diseases for almost four decades and worked under a total of seven US presidents. For the Republicans, however, Fauci represents the pandemic – and everything that went wrong in the fight against the coronavirus. Fauci denied the allegations.
Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal accused Committee Chairman Rand Paul in the current hearing of “that the current proceedings are merely an attempt to frame Dr. Accusing Fauci of criminal misconduct.” This is not the legitimate purpose of committee hearings.
Even years after the pandemic, it is still material for conspiracy theorists
Where does the sudden investigation come from? Senator Paul has made it his mission to determine the origin of the coronavirus. Last year, the chairman of the Senate committee summoned people from 14 US authorities. With Fauci, one of the most prominent figures during the pandemic now appeared before the committee.
Senator Rand Paul wants to deal with the corona pandemic.Image: keystone
Paul has been convinced for years that Fauci spread the theory of a natural origin of the virus in an attempt to conceal the fact that the virus actually came from a laboratory in the Chinese metropolis of Wuhan. US President Donald Trump also believes that the scientist “always tried to protect China”.
Conflicting diary entries
Shortly before Fauci’s hearing, Paul published excerpts from Fauci’s diary entries. According to the Wall Street Journal, the immunologist wrote about Chinese markets in January 2020: “Now we know that the market was not the origin, but the amplifier.” The following year, Fauci complained that “radical right-wingers” claimed that he had intentionally developed the virus and then released it into the world.
In May 2021 he then wrote: “I have always said that it is very likely that the virus is of natural origin and jumped from an animal to humans. However, given the high level of speculation about a possible lab leak in recent days, I have stressed that no one, including myself, is 100% sure about the origin and am calling for a thorough investigation.”
Anthony Fauci informs the US population about a new virus called Covid-19 in March 2020.Image: EPA
Meanwhile new assessments
The US government had already changed its assessment of the origin of the coronavirus last year. The director of the US foreign secret service CIA, John Ratcliffe, is now assuming a laboratory breakdown. The CIA estimates, albeit with little certainty, that a research-related origin of the Covid-19 pandemic is more likely than a natural origin. At the beginning of December, a subcommittee of the US House of Representatives presented a report that also supported the laboratory theory.
The former president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lothar Wieler, also believes that the laboratory theory is more likely given the current state of knowledge, as he told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” a month ago. Wieler was RKI President during the Corona outbreak and until March 2023. To date there is no clear result. (nil/sda/dpa)