Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of being "criminally liable" for allegedly helping to create the COVID-19 "bioweapon" on Tuesday.
Greene thanked former President Donald Trump for being "right all along about this virus and about the origins" before laying into Fauci during an interview on former Trump adviser Steve Bannon's War Room: Pandemic podcast. Although the origins of SARS-CoV-2 remain unclear amid ongoing investigations, Greene baselessly claimed that Fauci had taken part in a criminal effort to intentionally create the virus the causes COVID-19.
"Dr. Anthony Fauci needs to get a lawyer," Greene said. "Because he is liable. I believe he is liable, criminally liable for what has happened with COVID-19. That's why I wrote the Fauci Act and introduced it in early April... We've suspected all along that he is criminally liable."
"Anthony Fauci was using American tax dollars and sending it to the Wuhan lab to fund this research that was creating viruses," she added. "Why is there any need to create a virus that can spread rapidly through a population, make people sick and kill them? That's a bioweapon. So, we need to be very clear about what was the intent of COVID-19 and these viruses that they experiment with like some sort of Dr. Frankenstein experiments."
Bannon asked Greene whether she believed the theory that SARS-CoV-2 was emerged in a mishap after "gain-of-function" research, a process that can make viruses more transmissible to humans. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and others have claimed that Fauci funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in his capacity as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
Fauci has denied that NIAID earmarked any money for gain-of-function research at WIV, while maintaining that he still believes that it is more likely that SARS-CoV-2 was first transmitted between an animal and a human than escaped from a lab.
Greene did not present any evidence but rejected the possibility that the virus was anything other than an intentionally created bioweapon. She cited her disbelief in evolution while declaring that she was opposed to gain-of-function research. She also alluded to a conspiracy theory that claims the virus was created to sell COVID-19 vaccines.
"No, I don't believe in it because I don't believe in evolution," said Greene. "I don't believe in that type of so-called 'science.' I don't believe in evolution, I believe God. And these viruses were not making people sick until they created them and weaponized these viruses... There's no need for a vaccine if the virus doesn't make the human population sick to begin with."
The natural process of evolution plays no direct role in gain-of-function research. Scientists have observed new viruses emerging naturally after years of natural evolution, while gain-of-function research has the potential to create new viruses in a manner that is guided at an artificially accelerated pace.
It is possible that SARS-CoV-2 escaped from WIV by infecting researchers prior to the pandemic. However, WIV studies a wide range of naturally occurring coronaviruses and a lab escape scenario would not necessarily indicate that the virus had been manipulated in the lab. In the absence of any other evidence, it would also provide no reason to believe that the virus was intentionally created as a bioweapon.
Newsweek reached out to NIAID for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
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