IN EARLY 2020, AS THE PANDEMIC WAS LOOMING, Dr. Anthony Fauci corresponded with a group of scientists about the possibility that the COVID-19 virus escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China. After a conference call, the scientists published a paper downplaying the lab-leak theory.
Jim Jordan, a Republican representative from Ohio who began questioning witnesses on Wednesday in the House hearings on the origin of the pandemic, has his own way of weaving those facts into a narrative. It’s a story of gross malfeasance, with Fauci as villain.
The best thing about the debate over the origin of COVID-19—or the worst thing, depending on your point of view—is that it provides great fodder for constructing narratives. Consider one alternative view of Fauci’s actions. Amid the worst public health crisis in a century, perhaps it was wise of him to consult with evolutionary biologists and virologists about the possible causes of the pandemic. And although downplaying the lab-leak idea seems, in hindsight, like reported in April 2020), at the time, with the U.S. depending on precious information from Beijing, it might have seemed smart to avoid alienating the Chinese government.
