WASHINGTON — Elon Musk demanded the arrest and prosecution of Dr. Anthony Fauci on Friday after the National Institutes of Health came clean to Congress and admitted funding risky “gain-of-function” research in Wuhan, China, prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic there.
“Prosecute/Fauci,” the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of social media network X tweeted, sharing The Post’s Friday front page bearing a photo of Fauci and the headline “SICK LIES.”
NIH principal deputy director Lawrence Tabak confessed Thursday at a House subcommittee hearing that the US government had indeed funded dangerous research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which modified bat coronaviruses shortly before the outbreak began in late 2019.
“Dr. Tabak, did NIH fund gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology through [Manhattan-based nonprofit] EcoHealth [Alliance]?” ”asked Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.
“It depends on your definition of gain-of-function research,” Tabak answered. “If you’re speaking about the generic term, yes, we did.”
Tabak’s answer conflicts with Fauci’s several fiery denials.
“The NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” Fauci, now 83, testified to Congress in May 2021.
Musk did not specify what criminal charges Fauci should face, though perjury and lying to Congress are obvious options and have been recommended by congressional Republicans.
Both offenses carry up to five years in prison and generally have five-year statutes of limitations.
It’s unclear if other potential charges could stem from the alleged cover-up of US funding for the Chinese labs suspected of unleashing the lethal respiratory virus, which has killed at least 1,190,546 US residents, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, in addition to causing enormous economic, social and educational damage across the world.
Fauci served as President Biden’s chief medical adviser in 2021 and 2022 after presenting himself in the early phase of the pandemic as a beacon of reason and good health guidance, though allies of former President Donald Trump noted his often inconsistent tips, including on mask-wearing.
The doctor also led NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 through the end of 2022.
Documents published in late 2021 by the Intercept revealed that the EcoHealth Alliance used grants from Fauci’s agency to fund Wuhan Institute of Virology experiments that modified three bat coronaviruses distinct from COVID-19.
The research discovered the viruses became much more infectious among “humanized” mice when human-type receptors were added to them.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which includes NIH, on Tuesday barred EcoHealth from receiving federal funding for the next three years.
The origins of COVID-19 remain a mystery due to the Chinese government’s refusal to allow an independent international investigation.
Some parts of the US government, including the FBI and the Energy Department — which includes the US National Laboratories — believe the pandemic emerged via a lab leak in China.
Biden has said very little about determining the origins of the pandemic. Trump, his predecessor and November election challenger, has proposed forcing China to pay $10 trillion in “reparations.”
