Dr. Anthony Fauci declined an invitation to testify before a House subcommittee on Tuesday, leading Rep. James Comer, R-Ky.,to tell Newsmax he's now inclined to join other Republicans in calling for his ouster.

Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, was not bound by subpoena to appear, because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, did not approve the hearing and refused to hold a bipartisan one.

"He did not show up," Comer said of Fauci during a Tuesday appearance on "Greg Kelly Reports." "And I've been one of the Republicans that have been holding out prospects of his future."

Comer told guest host Eric Bolling he wanted to give Fauci a chance to testify "why his emails were vastly different than what he's been telling the American public over the past year and a half."

Fauci, Comer said, has never shied away from a camera prior to the release of his emails that showed he believed masks were not effective in preventing spread of COVID-19 while he was publicly saying they were.

"Unfortunately, he did not show up today, and I'm pretty disappointed," Comer said. "I'm going to join the bandwagon of most of my Republican colleagues in saying that it's time for Dr Fauci to go, and he should resign."

Comer said those who did testify Tuesday showed that the likelihood that COVID originated from animals is "almost zero. That was proven today."

"I didn't know that there have been over 80,000 animals tested, and not a single animal showed up positive with COVID-19," Comer said. "The only animals in the whole region of China that were not tested were the mice in the Wuhan lab. Now you tell me why they wouldn't want to test the mice in the Wuhan lab."