'Now You've Been Caught Red-Handed!': Josh Hawley Accuses Doctor Of Lying To Quash Lab Leak Theory

thank you very much Mr chairman thanks to all the witnesses for being here uh Dr Wan if I could start with you you served as the chief of staff to Francis Collins for four years is that right that's correct senator from 2017 to 2021 is that correct right right through the heart of the pandemic yes I noticed that Dr Collins was intensely interested in discrediting the lab leak I guess we'll call it a hypothesis I think it's probably a little bit stronger than that now that we know something of what our intelligence agencies have long assessed last month I had the chance to speak with Dr Robert Gary who sat right where you are who co-authored that uh really frankly Shameless propaganda piece the proximal origin paper which famously infamously stated that the SARS Co 2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposely manipulated virus it went on to say it could not possibly have come from a lab uh this of course we now know is is not what mult multiple us intelligence agencies assessed what interests me is that your office was very involved in that paper which was supposed to be an independent piece of scientific analysis but Dr Collins actually called Dr Gary when he was supposedly working on the paper on February 1st 2020 is it normal for scientists who are supposedly doing independent research to get together and talk about how the how their conclusions are going to come out thank you for the question Senator Holly um I I think in general yes it is quite common for scientists um across biomedical research Fields while they're in the process of doing research to discuss um with and other scientists I do not believe that the um that is an accurate description of the conversations that took place well tell us what what were the nature of the conversations so while I was not present for uh the those conversations my understanding based on readouts is there was a lot of interest in the um Origins and current understanding of SARS kv2 and I think it's important when we're talking about the term lab leak Theory to differentiate between the idea of a virus escaping from a lab which is a biosafety violation versus a virus that is Eng or manipulated in the lab and then escaped your boss and Dr fou tried to discredit both of those things they said that the lab was absolutely not involved we know that at the time that this paper was supposedly being written because we now have the private correspondence from Dr fouchy your boss said that it was a very destructive conspiracy conspiracy to think that there was a lab involved so he's on the phone with a scientist quote unquote scientist who's supposedly writing an independent paper by the way Dr Gary testified under oath that he was coming to his conclusions while this paper was being written he was discovering the answers but we now know that your boss was on the phone with him saying this is a very destructive conspiracy before the paper was even written my question is why was your office so intent on pushing to the public the idea that this could not possibly have been a lab issue is it because of the nih's role in funding gain of function research at the lab is that the reason why so Senator Holly I would say that in the event of any new and emerging uh infectious disease if you've ever gone through a tabl talk exercise in biocurity yeah yeah yeah answer my question is it because that NIH was actually funding helping to fund Eco Health with funding gain of function research and no I believe that's an inaccurate assessment and in fact your boss misled Congress and testified falsely that NIH and the Eco Health had never conducted gain of function research ruhan correct no that's incorrect he did testify that I believe sir that what he testified to was that there was no evidence at that time that NIH was funding research that met the scope of the P3 Co policy which I want to differentiate from the term gain of function research this is the Classic this is the classic now that we've lied now that you have and your office lied to the American people for years told the American people that a lab leak was a very destructive conspiracy that's your boss's statement while you were his chief of staff of course we now know that that was the conspiracy to hide this from the American people to censor people who had who who went out and said you know what actually maybe this is a lab leak your office Dr fouchy and others tried to actively censor them there was a propaganda effort that this paper was the center of and now everybody says oh oh well we we just weren't sure at the time we didn't really knew you knew exactly what you were doing you were actively misleading the American people the entire time get this after that paper paper it's really an opinion piece was published your boss then says to Dr fouchy that he had really hoped that the paper would settle this is there anything more that we can do to shut down this destructive conspiracy this is in April of 2020 and then Dr fouchy went to the White House Podium and said that absolutely there's no way that this could have come from a lab I I just why was your let me come back to my original question why was your office so intent on shutting down any talk about this being involved with a lab why I don't understand it why the hysteria so Senator Holly I will say that my understanding of the situation is that the um no in Nia including Dr Collins Dr fouchy myself ever suggested that there wasn't the possibility that a virus had escaped from a lab oh that's ridiculous I mean that let me just stop you right there I just I cannot have these lies just continue to be told over and over again sorry and wrong that's false you people repeatedly repeatedly said it could not have come from a lab your boss said it was a very destructive consp iracy not that it was unlikely not that it was not the best idea a conspiracy and based on that you censored and your Administration that you worked for actively censored scientists journalists and what we now know is our own intelligence agencies at the same time were concluding and briefing members of Congress that it likely was from a lab leak I mean it's extraordinary and now you've been caught red-handed because you you thought that the rest of us wouldn't find out you thought that the public would always be kept in the dark and as it turns out we now know these emails have become public that you were pushing this propaganda effort and yet claiming the mantle of science don't you see that what you have done has set back the respectability and integrity of Science by Generations you were acting as propagandists do you regret your role in any of this so Senator Holly I don't think you've car characteriz do you regret your role in any of the misleading of the public do you regret your role in your office saying that a a lab Nexus here is a very destructive conspiracy do you regret your role in helping censor millions of Americans who were kicked off social media who were disciplined at work for saying that maybe a lab was involved which we now know the FBI thinks is the fact the case do you regret it I do not believe I ever had the role that you're describing do you regret anything that you did during this period do you regret not speaking out do you regret not advising your boss to temper his comments do you regret not opposing the censorship do you regret it you're in a position of tremendous influence I do not believe censorship took place sir you don't believe censorship took place I do not what world are you living in tell that to the scientists who basically lost their credentials tell that to the people who were kicked off of social media and banned because they asked about a lab leak you don't believe censorship took place the privilege is astounding you were the chief of staff at the NIH pushing these conspiracies pushing the effort to shut down Americans and now you have the G to sit here and say censorship never took place I mean it's unbelievable unbelievable I can't believe I cannot believe that that's your testimony and frankly I can't believe you have the call to sit here and say that thank you Mr M chairman thank you Senator Rosen you recognized for your questions Senator uh Peters may I have a chance to expand on my comments for a moment if you could be brief please we have other questions yes thank you I I think I want to make it very clear that um I certainly and uh I do believe this is true of uh others at NIH as well including Dr Collins and Dr fouchy have never dismissed that the potential origins of uh SARS K2 leading to the covid-19 pandemic are known that um there is uh uh that we just don't have the evidence to be able to make a determination the paper said it couldn't have come from a lab it could not have come from a lab your boss said it was veryu conspiracy but I I'd like to go forward with my questions please

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Length: 9min 53sec (593 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 11 2024