WASHINGTON (TND) — Congress gets back to business in Washington next week and things could start with a bang as Dr. Anthony Fauci is expected to testify in front of lawmakers. It could turn into a grilling about transparency and the origins of COVID-19.

Fauci will have been out of government for almost a year and a half when he appears before Congress next week, but he’s not off the GOP's radar.

“Dr. Fauci was the figure, he was the guy, he put himself in charge," said Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio.

Rep. Wenstrup spoke with The National Desk ahead of Fauci's testimony.

“Dr. Fauci said at one point ‘If you disagree with me, then you disagree with science.’ No, science looks at all possibilities, true science does, and starts to build facts," Rep. Wenstrup said.

The committee wants Dr. Fauci to turn over private emails and cell phone records from when he was captaining the U.S.’s response to the virus. They've already pressed one of his former advisors about questionable transparency practices at the National Institute of Health.

Dr. David Morens openly talked about ducking records requests, remarking about other officials, and messaging Dr. Fauci on his private email to shield it from public records laws in messages obtained by the committee. Dr. Morens faced lawmakers in late May.

I’ve already apologized for making snarky and profane comments, but I made them thinking it was on my private email in a manner that was just between a small group of friends," he told lawmakers.

The messages fueled speculation that the theory COVID-19 originated in a lab was being suppressed while the theory it was transmitted from animal to man was being pushed.

"I don’t know if there’s a 'smoking gun,' there might be two things. One, what actually happened in China? They’ll have that smoking gun and we may never have that. Two, why were we trying to create a single narrative? What was the motive behind that?" Rep. Wenstrup said.

Fauci sat for a written interview with the committee earlier in the year where he was pressed on some policies including six-feet-apart social distancing and whether or not it was backed by science. Expect lawmakers to zero in on that, as well, when he publicly testifies.

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