‘Taxpayers have a right to know’: Lawsuit seeks more information following release of Fauci emails

Dr. Anthony Fauci has attracted widespread publicity as a leading expert during the COVID-19 pandemic, but he received some attention this week that he probably did not appreciate.

After BuzzFeed obtained and released thousands of emails to and from the chief White House medical adviser, one group is suing to uncover even more information.

“Spending the agency’s money”

According to the Washington Examiner, the watchdog group White Coat Waste Project filed a lawsuit on Tuesday seeking documents related to grants distributed by the National Institutes of Health.

In particular, the group is interested in details surrounding money provided to nonprofit research group EcoHealth Alliance, which has faced recent accusations of funding a lab in Wuhan, China, where the COVID-19 virus might have originated.

For its part, White Coat Waste Project argues that EcoHealth “was spending the agency’s money at the Wuhan animal lab,” signaling interest in determining what early evidence pointed to the possibility that the virus escaped from the Wuhan facility.

Among the many emails released by BuzzFeed was one from EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak in which he praised Fauci for arguing against the lab-leak theory.

“From my perspective, your comments are brave, and coming from your trusted voice, will help dispel the myths being spun around the virus’ origins,” he wrote.

“Critical in the quest to identify the origin”

Justin Goodman, White Coat Waste Project’s vice president of advocacy and public policy, said the issue comes down to transparency.

“Taxpayers have a right to know what the NIH knew about how its money was being spent at the Wuhan animal lab, and what NIH knew about a potential lab leak in late 2019 and 2020.”

As for the motivation for his group’s lawsuit, Goodman declared: “Transparency and accountability at home and abroad are critical in the quest to identify the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic in order to prevent another outbreak.”

Of course, White Coat Waste Project is not the only entity clamoring for answers.

During a recent broadcast, Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson alleged that Fauci had been “often dishonest” in his remarks about the pandemic and should be subjected to a thorough investigation.

The post ‘Taxpayers have a right to know’: Lawsuit seeks more information following release of Fauci emails first appeared on Conservative Institute.