No. He - Fauxi - is lying and he knows the semantic switcheroos he and his ilk have peformed over the years were done to try to hide the lie.
Yes.
Evidence: This posted interview itself. Garrett brings it up specifically as I cited, to permit Fauxi to cloak himself in a weak defense.
We all know he’s lying.
But to expose the lie, we must cite the origin of the lie to destroy their continued use of it as a cudgel behind ‘gof’.