Dr. Anthony Fauci urged the media to keep “an open mind” regarding the source of coronavirus as he faces criticism over the lab-leak theory after thousands of his emails were released to the public. While appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Fauci also said that while he didn’t necessarily dismiss the lab leak theory as a conspiracy, he felt it was “more likely to be” an animal-to-human transmission situation.
“The situation is that we didn’t know and we still don’t know what the origin is,” he said. “If you look historically in the way things rolled out, we all felt and still do actually, that it is more likely to be a natural jumping of species from an animal reservoir to a human, however since we don’t know that for sure, that you’ve got to keep an open mind.”
Avid critics, such as Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., argue that Fauci’s archive of emails paint a “disturbing picture.” However, Fauci claims that in the months since his early emails regarding the origin of the virus his mind hasn’t changed regarding the lab-leak theory, whether it be for or against.
“You could say you think one thing is more likely than the other,” said Fauci, “but the fact that it could have been something else clearly was there, it was low on the list of what we thought the likelihood was, but in fact, that’s the reason why we all are now saying there is a considerable amount – appropriately – of interest in trying to find out what the origin is, and that’s why we are all in favor of a fair, open investigation to see if we can actually find out the origin because we want to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Republican Senator Tom Cotton, one of the loudest voices regarding the lab-leak theory, made a statement claiming that the emails showed Fauci “coordinated with one of the Wuhan Lab’s founders to cover-up the plausible notion that the virus could have come from inside the lab.”
