Former National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Francis Collins admitted to members of Congress last week that the coronavirus lab leak theory was in fact credible, despite his claims in 2021, in which he called it a “distraction.”

Collins made the admission during a closed-door, 7-hour interview on Friday with the House Select Committee on Coronavirus Pandemic, echoing testimony from Dr. Anthony Fauci, who was the public face of the U.S. coronavirus pandemic response.

The subcommittee’s chairman, Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, released the key takeaways from the interview with Collins, saying he served as Fauci’s “boss.”

Wenstrup’s committee has been investigating whether government officials at the time, including Fauci, worked to suppress questions about whether the pandemic was the result of a lab leak in Wuhan, China. 

Republicans have accused those officials of pushing the natural origin theory in a bid to protect China.

Michael Dorgan of Fox News contributed to this report.

Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.

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