GOP calls for Fauci investigation, resignation mount after NIH admits funding gain-of-function research
GOP calls for an investigation and the resignation of Dr. Anthony Fauci have escalated following this week’s revelation that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded gain-of-function research on the coronavirus. The controversial research involves artificially engineering an animal virus in a laboratory setting to further examine how it becomes more easily transmissible and deadly to humans – a measure that Fauci told lawmakers was not utilized by the NIH. But a letter from the NIH to Ranking Member Rep. James Comer of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform Wednesday admitted to a "limited experiment" conducted in order to test if "spike proteins from naturally occurring bat coronaviruses circulating in China were capable of binding to the human ACE2 receptor in a mouse model" – contradicting Fauci’s previous claims. The firestorm that followed renewed demands by Republicans in Congress for the resignation of the infectious disease specialist. &q