John Fetterman

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman took a reflective tone as Republican colleagues grilled Dr. Anthony Fauci and fellow Democrats defended the embattled virologist during a contentious hearing on Capitol Hill over the covid-19 pandemic response.

“I’m not here to, perhaps, attack you, or defend, or anything,” Fetterman, D-Braddock, told Fauci during the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday. “I’m not sure if we got it all right or wrong, but without a doubt I can continue to question myself.”

Fetterman, who was Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor during the pandemic, said he regretted staying silent on early assertions that the virus originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, instead of being transmitted from animals to humans as many virologists and health organizations contend.

“Early on that became like a right-wing kind of theory. I thought it seemed to make sense,” Fetterman said. “There was a really advanced lab that was close by, and then you have this unknown virus out. But that became a very partisan thing. It seems now it’s more and more emerging theory that it would have come from the lab.”

The origins of the virus remain a topic of intense debate.

Fetterman, who has drawn praise from Republicans and ire from Democrats for breaking with his party on certain issues during his time in Washington, said he hopes officials handle questions that emerge during future crises differently.

“I hope, I think, that the next time our nation is facing something like this we (do) not become, as I might have been, blinded by the partisan idea” that the truth couldn’t come from the other side of the political aisle, Fetterman said.

“I think we should really be willing to pursue truth no matter where that may have emerged,” Fetterman added during his roughly two minutes of remarks.

Fetterman, wearing a suit and tie instead of his trademark shorts and hoodie, did not ask Fauci any questions. Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who helped lead the nation’s covid-19 response, invoked his Fifth Amendment rights more than 100 times in response to questions during Wednesday’s hearing.

After the hearing, Fetterman told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo that he thought some Republican committee members were too harsh on Fauci.

“I do think it’s entirely appropriate to really hold Fauci accountable, but I don’t think it’s really appropriate to pound an 85-year-old man … just to try to humiliate the guy,” Fetterman said.

“It does seem like (Fauci) was a little fixated on his fame. That wasn’t, like, his best look,” Fetterman said, referring to released diary entries in which Fauci wrote about the fame his pandemic role had given him. “But … is it really necessary to force the dude to say, ‘Fifth, Fifth, Fifth,’ 111 times?”