Jan 19, 2023
Anthony Fauci, the federal government's most prominent authority on COVID-19, had his final White House press conference two days before Thanksgiving 2022. The event served as a send-off for the longserving director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who was finally stepping down after nearly four decades on the job. Read the emails: Inside the Facebook Files: Emails Reveal the CDC's Role in Silencing COVID-19 Dissent Ashish Jha, the Biden administration's coronavirus response coordinator, hailed Fauci as "the most important, consequential public servant in the United States in the last half century." White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described him as a near-constant "source of information and facts" for all Americans throughout the pandemic. Indeed, the U.S. public's understanding of COVID-19-its virality, how to prevent its spread, and even where it comes from-was largely controlled by Fauci and bureaucr