Chaos erupted in the White House Press Briefing Room as Dr. Anthony Fauci gave his final press conference before officially retiring.
As expected, Fauci’s final message was to take a COVID-19 booster and get tested ahead of the holidays.
“When we’re gathering at a family gathering for Thanksgiving or for Christmas or for any other holiday as we get into the winter, it makes sense that you might wanna get a test that day before you come into a place,” he said.
That’s when things got rowdy when a reporter began shouting over his colleagues and demanding that White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre take a question about the origins of COVID-19.
However, Jean-Pierre refused to call on the reporter and shouted, “I’m done! I’m done with you!”
Many believe Fauci is leaving the government due to the possibility that Republicans will investigate his mismanagement of the pandemic, but he said during his final presser that he would fully cooperate with lawmakers and testify before Congress.
Fauci: "If there are Oversight hearings, I absolutely will cooperate fully and testify before Congress…we can defend and explain and stand by everything that we've said. I have nothing to hide." pic.twitter.com/jXkMDWWInA
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) November 22, 2022
“If there are Oversight hearings, I absolutely will cooperate fully and testify before Congress…we can defend and explain and stand by everything that we’ve said. I have nothing to hide,” he said.
Fauci, 81, became the face of the American government’s policies regarding efforts to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, becoming the lead figure on both Trump and Biden’s coronavirus response teams.
Uncovered emails revealed recently that the NIAID director said that “the typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out viruses” despite draconian mask mandates being imposed nationwide during the pandemic.
GOP Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul pledged in August that he will be conducting a “full-throated investigation into the origins of the pandemic” regardless of Fauci’s retirement, tweeting: “[Fauci] will be asked to testify under oath regarding any discussions he participated in concerning the lab leak.”
Paul previously introduced a bill that would “eliminate Dr. Anthony Fauci’s position” and divide his powers into three separate institutes.
“No one person should have the sole authority to dictate science, especially when that one person wasn’t ever following the science,” he said back in March. “I’ve said that from the beginning, and I’ve been proven right over, and over, and over again. On masks, lockdowns, schools, natural immunity, all of it.”
