CAPABILITY IN GAZA. >> OKAY, IMTIAZ TYAB, THANK YOU. >>> DOCTOR ANTHONY FAUCI IS TESTIFYING BEFORE A REPUBLICAN- LED HOUSE PANEL TODAY. IT'S INVESTIGATING THE ORIGINS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE U.S. RESPONSE. REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS ARE QUESTIONING FAUCI OVER HIS LEADERSHIP AT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES. THEY CLAIM LAB WORK FUNDED BY THE AGENCY IS WHAT LED CHINESE SCIENTISTS TO DEVELOP THE CORONAVIRUS IN THEIR WUHAN LAB. THE THEORY HAS BEEN WIDELY DISPUTED BY TIME TO ASSESS AND HEALTH OFFICIALS WHO POINT THE BODY OF EVIDENCE THAT INDICATES THAT PANDEMIC ORIGINATED FROM ANIMALS AT A WET MARKET. FAUCI ADDRESSED THESE ACCUSATIONS AND MORE IN HIS OPENING STATEMENT. >> THE ACCUSATION BEING CIRCULATED THAT I INFLUENCED THE SCIENTISTS TO CHANGE THEIR MINDS BY BRIBING THEM WITH MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN GRANT MONEY IS ABSOLUTELY FALSE AND SIMPLY PREPOSTEROUS. >> CBS NEWS CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT NIKOLE KILLION IS ON CAPITOL HILL COVERING THIS HEARING FOR US. SO NIKOLE, WHAT IS THE COMMITTEE HOPING TO ACCOMPLISH BY HOLDING THIS HEARING? >> WELL OF COURSE THIS HEARING TODAY IS DOCTOR FAUCI'S FIRST APPEARANCE SINCE HE RETIRED ABOUT 18 MONTHS AGO FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, AND HE HAS ALREADY SPOKEN TO THIS HOUSE OVERSIGHT SUBCOMMITTEE BEFORE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS FOR A NUMBER OF HOURS, AND SO THE COMMITTEE JUST RELEASED SOME OF THOSE TRANSCRIPTS. THIS IS KIND OF A FOLLOW-UP OR A CONTINUATION BY HOLDING THIS PUBLIC HEARING, BUT REALLY, IT HAS, AS MANY OF THESE HEARINGS DO, DEVOLVED INTO POLITICS WITH BOTH SIDES BLAMING THE OTHER. REPUBLICANS CONTENDING THAT THEY FEEL THAT DR. FAUCI WAS RESPONSIBLE IN SOME WAY FOR THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC, AND DEMOCRATS PUSHING BACK ON THAT NARRATIVE AS FALSE. TAKE A LISTEN. >> IT WAS DONALD TRUMP'S OWN COVID-19 ADVISOR, DEBORAH BIRX, WHO SAID THAT WE LOST HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF AMERICAN LIVES BECAUSE OF THE IRRESPONSIBILITY AND THE DELIBERATE INDIFFERENCE AND NEGLIGENCE OF DONALD TRUMP. THAT IS THE REALITY OF THE SITUATION. THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE TRYING TO COVER UP WITH ALL OF HIS ATTACKS ON DR. FAUCI. SO THEY'VE GIVEN US A POLITICAL BIG LIE, AND NOW THEY ARE GIVING US ANOTHER BIG LIE. >> FAUCI ALLOWED THE GRAMS TO GO TO ECOHEALTH, GAIN OF FUNCTION RESEARCH WAS USED CREATING COVID AND TAKING A VIRUS THAT WAS SPREAD AMONG THAT, CHANGING THE VIRUS TO BE TRANSMISSIBLE BETWEEN HUMANS THAT LED TO KILLING MILLIONS IN MILLIONS OF PEOPLE. WHERE IS THE LAW IN THAT? >> AND SO AGAIN, THOSE ARE SOME OF THE ARGUMENTS THAT BOTH OF THOSE COMMITTEE MEMBERS MADE CONGRESSMAN RASKIN AND CONGRESSMAN MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE INTO THE HEARING, BUT DR. FAUCI, AS YOU HEARD IT EARLIER, PUSHING BACK ON WHAT HE BELIEVES ARE INCONSISTENCIES BY THIS PANEL THAT SUGGESTS THAT HE IS LIABLE IN ANY WAY. HE OBVIOUSLY ARGUES THAT HE IS AND NOT. >> SO SCIENTISTS AND HEALTH OFFICIALS HAVE PREVIOUSLY TESTIFIED THAT THE CORONAVIRUS BEING STUDIED AND LABS THERE'S ALMOST NO RESEMBLANCE TO THE ONE THAT SET OFF THE PANDEMIC. SO WE HEARD FROM MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE THERE. WHY ARE LAWMAKERS LIKE ARE STILL TRYING TO MAKE THAT CONNECTION? >> YEAH, AND THIS IS SOMETHING THAT HAS SURROUNDED A LOT OF THE QUESTIONING HERE IN THIS HEARING. AND DR. FAUCI, THIS IS ONE OF THOSE INCONSISTENCIES THAT HE CONTINUES TO PUSH BACK AGAINST, SAYING THAT AT ONE POINT, IT IS ALMOST MOLECULARLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR WHAT THIS PARTICULAR LAB WAS STUDYING THAT IT HAD ANY RELATION WHATSOEVER TO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC, AND WHAT IS KNOWN AS SARS, WHICH ULTIMATELY IS THE SAME AS COVID- 19, AND SO WE PUSH BACK AGAINST THE IDEA THAT THERE COULD HAVE BEEN ANY CONNECTION THERE. AND THAT HAS BEEN, AGAIN, KIND OF THE ARGUMENT THAT LAWMAKERS HAVE BEEN MAKING WITH MANY DEMOCRATS ARE DOING THAT THEY FEEL REPUBLICANS ARE KIND OF CHERRY-PICKING EVIDENCE AND PUSHING THIS AS CONSPIRACY THEORIES. THAT BEING SAID, DOCTOR FAUCI DID SAY THAT HE REMAINS OPEN TO THE POTENTIAL ORIGINS OF THE VIRUS, BUT AGAIN, PUSHED BACK AGAINST ANY CONNECTION BETWEEN THE VIRUS THAT WAS BEING STUDIED BY A GROUP OF SCIENTISTS OUT OF THE WUHAN LAB AND
