At Select Subcommittee Hearing, Democrats Debunk Republicans’ Baseless Allegations of Political Interference at Scientific Journals

Washington, D.C. (April 17, 2024)—Yesterday, Rep. Raul Ruiz, M.D., Ranking Member of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, led Select Subcommittee Democrats in debunking Select Subcommittee Republicans’ claims about the federal government’s influence on scientific journals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Despite the Majority’s claims, the Select Subcommittee has not uncovered any evidence that directly implicates Drs. Fauci and Collins in a cover up of the pandemic’s origins fueled by their collusion with scientific journals to suppress the lab leak hypothesis. …  Their probe into federally funded research has spanned more than half a million pages of documents, more than a dozen transcribed interviews, and multiple hearings, and yet it has failed to substantiate any of their claims about Drs. Fauci and Collins or even brought us closer to understanding how COVID came to be,” said Ranking Member Ruiz in his opening statement.

Today’s hearing included testimony from Dr. Holden Thorp, Editor-in-Chief of Science. 

Select Subcommittee Democrats demonstrated how Republicans’ probe has failed to reveal any sort of cover-up of the pandemic’s origins or a suppression of the lab leak theory, including through undue influence over major scientific journals, on the parts of Dr. Fauci and Dr. Collins.

• Congresswoman Deborah Ross said:  “Dr. Fauci and Dr. Collins communicated with scientific journals during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is to be expected.  It’s completely unsurprising.  And after all, Dr. Fauci and Dr. Collins were scientists before, during and after the pandemic, and it would be unreasonable to suggest that they should have paused their scholarly inquiries during a time of great scientific uncertainty.  Government actors querying academia on issues that are academic in nature isn’t malpractice or unlawful.  It’s just doing their jobs.”
• In response to questioning from Congresswoman Debbie Dingell regarding whether Dr. Fauci or Dr. Collins pressured Science not to publish a letter that called for a transparent and objective investigation of COVID-19’s origins, Dr. Thorp said:  “No, they told me the opposite of that.”

Select Subcommittee Democrats exposed Republicans’ hearing as a continuation of their flimsy attempts to advance an extreme, partisan, and conspiratorial narrative against our nation’s public health officials simply built on spurious conjecture.

• Congresswoman Jill Tokuda said:  “Unfortunately, today’s hearing does nothing to better prepare our nation for future public health threats, protect the American people’s health or enhance our understanding of COVID-19’s origins.  Instead, it is simply a continuation of this Majority’s unsubstantiated attempts to villainize, as has just been mentioned, our nation’s public health officials by advancing an extreme narrative against them that hinges solely on speculation.  While the Majority has attempted to score political points with these probes, they have not only wasted critical time that could have been spent preventing and preparing for future pandemics, but they have also further politicized the question of COVID-19’s origins and the COVID-19 response more broadly.”
• Congresswoman Dingell said:  “Neither Dr. Fauci nor Dr. Collins suppressed the lab leak theory or orchestrated the ‘Proximal Origin’ paper.  Nor did they organize the February 1, 2020, conference call.  Rather, Dr. Jeremy Farrar organized that call and played a leading role in shepherding ‘Proximal Origin’ through publication.  Those are crystal-clear facts acknowledged in Republicans own materials.  In fact, Republican questioning during Dr. Fauci’s transcribed interview explicitly recognized that they were nitpicking words and believed that Dr. Fauci was testifying truthfully when he said he made no edits to revisions to 'Proximal Origin.’  And, for the record, Select Subcommittee Democrats would appreciate it if the Republicans would release that transcript.” 

Select Subcommittee Democrats underscored that the real damage to our nation is Select Subcommittee Republicans’ concerted effort to sow distrust in public health while ignoring the vital work of protecting the American people’s health and preparing for future pandemics.

• Congresswoman Tokuda said:  “As vaccination rates of childhood and routine immunizations decline across the country, I have serious concerns, as a mother, that we’re heading down a very dark path.  Over the last year, my Republican colleagues have wielded the power of the Majority of this committee to amplify extreme views on vaccines.  They have invited ‘experts’ who have pushed questionable advice, and they have continued on their crusade against our nation’s public health officials.  These efforts to foster and capitalize on distrust in public health for partisan gain will only further harm our ability to keep current threats at bay and prevent future crisis.”
• Ranking Member Ruiz said:  “I’m worried that today’s hearing is setting a dangerous precedent—that if Congress doesn’t like what you publish, you’ll be hauled in before a congressional committee to answer for it.  The fact is, Congress should not be meddling in the peer review process.   And it should not be holding hearings to throw around baseless accusations, especially when there is so much work we can and should be doing to prevent and prepare for future pandemics.”

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