Covid had just reached American shores on Feb. 9, 2020, when Newt Gingrich invited Anthony Fauci, the longtime head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the British zoologist Peter Daszak onto his podcast, “Newt’s World.”

Mr. Gingrich would later sour on Dr. Fauci, accusing him of playing a key role in “the biggest scandal in American history” and calling him “one of the most destructive and dangerous people in American history.”