The White House steered clear of the controversy surrounding Dr. Anthony Fauci’s newly unearthed emails, which show the nation’s top virologist’s behind-the-scenes communications did not always match his public statements on COVID-19.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined to comment on the substance of the emails during the briefing on Thursday, though they showed he worked behind the scenes to cast doubt on the theory that the coronavirus originated in a Wuhan, China, laboratory, a hypothesis that he is still unsure of.