Fauci Now Says the NIH Was Funding Viral Research But It Did Not Lead to the Covid Pandemic

Fauci: “There’s a difference between the viruses that were funded by the NIH sub award versus anything else, anybody else in China might be doing.”
GRIFFITH: “Excellent.”
Fauci: “We were talking about did the NIH —“
GRIFFITH: “You’re talking about what you funded.”
Fauci: “What we funded.”
GRIFFITH: “All right.”
Fauci: “And that’s the point.”
GRIFFITH: “And — and that goes to my next question, because I thought you might go there, and I appreciate that.”
Fauci: “Right.”
GRIFFITH: “Because in an off the record member-level briefing in February of 2022, I asked about the likelihood of nature of a SARS related Coronavirus to have a furin cleavage site, particularly since it takes the 12 nucleotide change in there to make it so — to make it as viral as this was going on. And at the time, you said to me pretty much what you just said, and I want you to just confirm it for the record, ‘Well, that wasn’t us. If that was being done, it wasn’t us.’”
Fauci: “Yes.”
GRIFFITH: “And you confirm that for the record? Yes?”
Fauci: “No, what I —“
GRIFFITH: “It wasn’t you. It wasn’t what you were funding.”
Fauci: “What I’m saying is that I cannot account nor can anyone account for other things that might be going on in China, which is the reason why I have always said and will say now, I keep an open mind as to what the origin is. But the one thing I know for sure is that the viruses that were funded by the NIH phylogenetically could not be the precursor of SARS-CoV-2.”
GRIFFITH: “Do you think they could have done it without the humanized mice that we gave them?”
Fauci: “Could have done what, sir? I —“ [crosstalk]
GRIFFITH: “Could have done — Could they have done any other research with the humanized mice that we gave them? Would they be successful? China didn’t have the humanized mice before we gave them to Wuhan. Isn’t it accurate that they might have been able to do extra stuff with our mice?”
Fauci: “I think that’s a hypothetical — sorry sir — that’s a hypothetical that I can’t really answer what they could and could not have done.” [crosstalk]
GRIFFITH: “But you can’t say it couldn’t have happened either. I yield back.”
Fauci: “Well, you want me to prove a negative.” (Laughter)