Trump tears into Fauci after release of early COVID emails

Former President Donald Trump pointed to the trove of emails belonging to Dr. Anthony Fauci to demand the scientist answer “questions,” including what he knew about “gain of function” research at the Chinese lab — and insisted that China pay $10 trillion to the United States for the possible virus leak.

“There are a lot of questions that must be answered by Dr. Fauci. The funding of Wuhan by the U.S. was foolishly started by the Obama Administration in 2014 but ended under the Trump Administration. When I heard about it, I said ‘no way.’ What did Dr. Fauci know about ‘gain of function’ research, and when did he know it?,” Trump said in a statement that was sent out via email Thursday.

In a second email moments later, he added, “Now everyone, even the so-called ‘enemy,’ are beginning to say that President Trump was right about the China Virus coming from the Wuhan Lab. The correspondence between Dr. Fauci and China speaks too loudly for anyone to ignore. China should pay Ten Trillion Dollars to America, and the World, for the death and destruction they have caused!”

He also said he’s glad he didn’t always take the advice of Fauci, who was a member of his administration’s coronavirus task force.

“After seeing the emails, our Country is fortunate I didn’t do what Dr. Fauci wanted me to do. For instance, I closed our Borders to China very early despite his not wanting them closed. The Democrats and the Fake News Media even called me a ‘xenophobe.’ In the end, we saw this was a life-saving decision, and likewise with closing our borders to Europe, specifically to certain heavily infected countries,” Trump said.

“I was later given credit, even by ‘Tony,’ for saving hundreds of thousands of lives. Dr. Fauci also didn’t put an emphasis on speed of vaccine production because he thought it would take 3, 4, or maybe even 5 years to create. I got it done in less than 9 months with Operation Warp Speed,” the former president said.

“In retrospect, the vaccine is saving the world. Then, I placed the greatest bet in history. We ordered billions of dollars’ worth of vaccines before we knew it even worked. Had that not been done, our wonderful vaccines would not have been administered until October of this year. No one would’ve had the shot that has now saved the world and millions of lives!,” Trump said.

The former president also ripped Fauci for his back-and-forth recommendations on wearing masks.

“Also, Dr. Fauci was totally against masks when even I thought they would at least be helpful. He then changed his mind completely and became a radical masker!,” Trump said.