WASHINGTON, DC - US Senator James Lankford (R-OK), a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), today pressed Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, on the forced closure of American churches and places of worship during the COVID-19 shutdown, and on China's cover-up of the data, wet market, and Wuhan Institute of Virology research that Dr. Fauci himself flagged in his private notes weeks before the first American death from the virus.

Dr. Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in response to each of Lankford's questions at today's committee hearing on the federal government's COVID-19 response. At the close of his questioning, Lankford raised a parliamentary question to the chairman about whether Dr. Fauci's decision to deliver an opening statement and then refuse to answer questions is consistent with the precedent set in 2014, when the House Oversight Committee held former IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress for the same pattern.

You can watch Lankford's full exchange HERE. You can download it HERE.

Excerpts from the hearing:

On the human toll of the pandemic response:

Lankford: "Countless families, including my own, watched a loved one die behind glass or through a screen because we couldn't get access to them. Children couldn't get to school. People missed their prom or graduation ceremonies. There were lots of things that happened that dramatically changed the future of the country. The mental health issues that we have been continuing to deal with from the isolation have been profound.

"Even something as simple as children that wore masks or around adults wearing masks for all that time are slower in learning language now because they couldn't watch someone's lips moving. And so, they're slower in that.

"Amazingly enough, churches and places of worship were forced to be closed down. There were even churches that met with a pastor, preached in the parking lot, and the congregants all met in their cars with windows up, and police came and scattered them and said, you can't be here.

"The simple act of social distancing became an issue, as everyone guessed what's the right distance to be away from someone else? Literacy rates have declined. All these things are results, not to mention the loss of lives and the health experiences that have been out there for many Americans."

On missed childhood measles vaccinations worldwide:

Lankford: "On May 6th, 2020 you wrote, at that time, 'I had a conversation with Robert Redfield', as you know well, was then the director of CDC 'about the fact that greater than 1 million children worldwide have missed their measles vaccination because of the shutdown.' You stated, 'This is terrible and needs to be addressed, since on that basis alone there would be far, far more excess deaths from measles among children than coronavirus deaths among children. I need to bring this up to the T.F., the task force.'

"Did you ever have an opportunity to bring up the potential of measles deaths among children and infection rate going around the world from measles, based on the fact that so many children would not get their measles vaccine because of the shutdown?"

Dr. Fauci: "I'm sorry, Senator. But, on the advice of counsel, I respectfully declined to answer, based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution."

On the origins of COVID-19 and the Wuhan Institute of Virology:

Lankford: "In January the 26th of 2020, this is before we had our even our first tragic death of coronavirus in the United States, you wrote, 'It now appears using epi data, that the genomic data in the first infection was in early December and was not connected to the market.' … We know the market was not the source. It was the amplifier.

"On January the 31st, you wrote about a phone call. You wrote, 'The people on the phone felt the mutations around the furin cleavage site of the spike protein could not have occurred naturally, since it would require an evolutionary jump that they found nowhere in bat isolates. They bring up the possibility this could have been deliberately inserted in either accidentally released or deliberately released by a crazy person in the lab, the former being the most likely.'"

[…]

Lankford: "The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in May of 2020 put out a classified document that has only been recently unclassified on this, that had this statement: 'We assess all the necessary conditions for an accidental release of a laboratory modified coronavirus, specifically a coronavirus adapted to recognize human cell receptors, were present at the Chinese Wuhan Institute of Virology in mid to late 2019.'"

[…]

Lankford: "I have clearance. I serve on the Intelligence Committee. I've actually read this complete document unredacted. My concern is were you given the ability to see this document unredacted, based on your position? Were you able to see this and to be able to get this information? … Were you able to give access to this data?"

Dr. Fauci: "On the advice of counsel, I respectfully declined to answer, based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution."

On China's cover-up and lessons for future international research cooperation:

[…]

Lankford: "It's not just our cooperation with Chinese scientists. It's our acknowledgment that China covered up their data, wouldn't allow our scientists to be able to come in. They cleaned up the wet market. They cleaned up the other areas. They wouldn't allow you to get access to all the other scientists there, including their health records, what happened to them, or even all the sequencing that they had done in advance."

[…]

Lankford: "If we're going to fund research and cooperate with you, we've got to have certain things from you. If things go sideways, we've got to have access to all information in all places."

[…]

Lankford: "The Wuhan Institute of Virology… being, as was noted by many people, the only lab in the world that was doing research like this that had a lower standard of actually their security standards there than many other labs around the world. Yet they were doing this very dangerous research.

"What can we gain and what advice could you give us to say in a future setting? We've got to make sure that we actually get information from people, and we can be guaranteed that we're going to get that insight."

Dr. Fauci: "On the advice of counsel, I respectfully declined to answer, based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution."

On the parliamentary question and the Lois Lerner precedent:

Lankford: "Chairman, really, this is a question for you. And it's a question to try to figure out how do we get a good answer on this. Because clearly, [Dr. Fauci's] attorneys are saying that he has a Fifth Amendment right. So we've also subpoenaed him to be able to compel his testimony, to be able to be here.

"I happen[ed to be] in the committee [when] we're also dealing with Lois Lerner. Lois Lerner came and testified, gave an opening statement, and then took the Fifth Amendment. The committee then held her in contempt for that, saying, you can't do both. You can't both testify and say, I'm not going to answer questions.

"So the parliamentary question that I think we've got to be able to deal with is, is this consistent with Lois Lerner? What she also did when she came before Congress gave an opening statement, testimony, so made a statement and then refused to answer questions. Are we dealing with the same issue here where someone is [saying] you can't make a statement and say, I'm not going to make statements at the same time."

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