For the longest time, Fauci adamantly insisted that there is no possibility that the research he funded had anything to do with the pandemic. But top health and science officials at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing clearly disagreed. In 2017, after these officials attended a conference in which research funded by the U.S. government into coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute was presented, they asked the Chinese government for permission to inspect the lab. These officials later reported back that the lab suffered from “a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory.” The lab in Wuhan was not an ideal partner for the U.S. government or any other institution that purports to endorse responsible scientific discovery.

We still do not know for sure where COVID-19 originated. What we do know is that a powerful and highly connected group of scientists tried to shut down investigations relevant to that debate. We know that Fauci is personally invested as a co-conspirator in that effort and that he has a history of bending the truth to suit his needs.

He cannot be trusted on COVID-19. It is time for him to go.