Dr. Fauci's leaked 2020 emails reveal knowledge of lab-leak theory
What's the story
Not long after Dr. Anthony Fauci changed his tune on the possibility that the COVID-19 could be man-made, more skeletons tumble out of the US medical advisor's closet.
A massive cache of email correspondence obtained by BuzzFeed News and The Washington Post reveal that Dr. Fauci was apprised of the possibility that the SARS-CoV-2 virus could have been bioengineered in a lab, in 2020.
None the wiser
Another virologist had informed Fauci about virus being potentially lab-engineered
One such email from Dr. Kristian Andersen, a virologist at California-based Scripps Research Institute, informed Fauci that he and his team of scientists had to "look really closely at all the sequences to see that some of the features (potentially) look engineered."
The email sent on February 1, 2020, had Andersen remarking that the viral genome was "inconsistent with expectations from evolutionary theory."
Disingenuous
Same virologist later denied lab-leak theory in publications
However, despite these admissions through private emails to Fauci, Andersen later went on to deny that "any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible" in a scientific paper he had authored on the subject in the prestigious journal Nature.
Such disingenuous denial is consistent with universities that receive funding from the Confucius Institute outreach program bankrolled by the Chinese Communist Party.
Covering all bases
Emails prompted Fauci to spring into damage control mode
Andersen's email seemed to have prompted Fauci to send another email to his subordinate Dr. Hugh Auchincloss at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) on the very same day.
The content of Fauci's email comes across as damage control in response to Andersen's revelations. Fauci shared a 2015 paper on "gain-of-function research on coronaviruses" with his deputy in that email.
Zero culpability
Fauci's deputy ensure NIAID had no ties to 'work abroad'
Fauci instructed Auchincloss to read the paper dealing with bioengineering viruses to infect humans more effectively and perform unspecified tasks associated with the development.
Thereafter, Fauci's deputy reassured him that the gain-of-function research was done prior to the "pause" on the dangerous procedure. However, Andersen also informed him that he was checking for evidence linking the Fauci-headed NIAID with "ties to this work abroad."
Smoking gun?
'Work abroad' code for NIAID funding of Wuhan virology lab
While Andersen was smart to refrain from specifying what "abroad" entails, it would be remiss to ignore the heated exchange between Fauci and Republican Senator Rand Paul at a recent congressional hearing on COVID-19.
Senator Paul grilled Fauci on the lab-leak theory while also presenting clear evidence showing how the NIAID chief had funded gain of function research at the same Wuhan virology lab.
Circling back
Fauci's leaked emails corroborate Indian scientists' original lab-leak theory
The leaked emails paint a damning picture of Fauci's credibility because he had been categorically dismissing theories about the virus being man-made, until Senator Paul shifted the Overton window by presenting compelling evidence.
Meanwhile, a few Indian scientists were the first ones to postulate that the SARS-CoV-2 virus could be lab-synthesized through their path-breaking research paper published at the beginning of 2020.