US former top health official, who was subpoenaed to appear at a Senate hearing into Covid-19, says Markson’s reporting about virus’s origin ‘does not make any sense’

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Dr Anthony Fauci, the US’s chief medical adviser at the start of the pandemic, has described a book by News Corp investigative journalist Sharri Markson backing the “lab leak” theory of Covid-19’s origins as a “bunch of nonsense” in his newly released diaries.

This week, Fauci, 85, was subpoenaed by the Republican senator Rand Paul to appear at a Senate hearing into Covid-19 and his handling of the pandemic.

Continue reading...

© Composite: ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock/Sky News

© Composite: ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock/Sky News

© Composite: ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock/Sky News

Six years on from Covid crisis, Republicans still politicizing science – and Fauci remains a political punching bag

A US Senate committee hearing featuring Dr Anthony Fauci revealed at least one certainty: six years after the pandemic, politicizing science remains a vital political tactic.

The high-profile hearing was pitched by its Republican chair, Rand Paul of Kentucky, as an investigation into the origins of the Covid pandemic. It quickly became a forum for recrimination of a once-leading US government scientist by Republican senators.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Bonnie Cash/UPI/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Bonnie Cash/UPI/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Bonnie Cash/UPI/Shutterstock

Republicans have argued that the pre-emptive pardon Dr. Fauci received from former President Biden ought to preclude him from invoking the Fifth Amendment. But the pardon applies only to what happened before it was issued.

© Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times

Senator Rand Paul said the committee he leads would vote next week on whether to hold Dr. Fauci in contempt of Congress.

© Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

This blog is now closed. You can read our latest story here

• Sign up for US Breaking News email

Gary Peters, the Democratic ranking member on the homeland security committee, said that the committee has a long history of bipartisan inquiry and oversight, and the subject matter of risky research and the origins of covid-19 are a legitimate area to study.

But today’s hearing with Anthony Fauci was not an example of that, Peters said.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Win McNamee/Reuters

© Photograph: Win McNamee/Reuters

© Photograph: Win McNamee/Reuters

Adviser to Trump and Biden for pandemic says Republican senator has ‘unhinged obsession’ with him

• US politics – live updates

Dr Anthony Fauci refused to answer questions at a high-profile Senate committee hearing on the origins of Covid-19 and accused the Republican senator leading questioning of having an “unhinged obsession” with him.

Fauci, the veteran former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niaid), served as a key adviser to Donald Trump and Joe Biden during the Covid-19 pandemic. The hearing was called by Kentucky senator Rand Paul, who has investigated Fauci for years.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Matthew Kaminsky/EPA

© Photograph: Matthew Kaminsky/EPA

© Photograph: Matthew Kaminsky/EPA

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci seemed to be the life of the party, even in the midst of a deadly pandemic.

© Leigh Vogel for The New York Times

Letter, published before Anthony Fauci will appear before Congress, accuses Republicans of ‘waging a war on individual scientists’

• US politics live – latest updates

More than 155 scientists, physicians and public health advocates have called for an end to what they describe as the “vilification and harassment of many American scientists” by the Trump administration and its allies.

In an open letter published one day before Anthony Fauci, the former top US government science adviser, is scheduled to appear at a high-profile hearing in US Congress, after the Republican-controlled Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee compelled him to testify, the scientists and physicians dismissed allegations against the ex-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niaid) director as “baseless”.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images

© Photograph: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images

© Photograph: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images

Diary entries, released by a Republican senator, have reignited a furious debate over whether Covid-19 leaked from a lab.

© Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times

Former top US health official wrote about challenging interactions with publicity-fixated Trump during Covid

Diary entries released by a Republican senator in an attempt to damage Anthony Fauci also show the former top US government science adviser’s growing disillusionment with Donald Trump in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, branding the president “rambling”, “crazy”, “desperate”, “bumbling”, “incompetent”, “an idiot”, “a true embarrassment”, “totally nuts” and “truly an obnoxious adolescent”.

From the earliest days of the crisis six years ago, Fauci noted in his journal challenging interactions with the publicity-fixated Trump. On 27 February 2020, amid the first stirrings of public alarm, he wrote of a surprise late-night call, in which the US president “wanted to chat about the coronavirus situation in general”.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images