No Democrats Attend Senate Hearing on CIA Whistleblower's COVID Origins Testimony

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing Wednesday on COVID origins, led by Chairman Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. CIA whistleblower James Erdman testified, but no Democrats attended. Every chair on the left side of the dais stayed empty.

Erdman, a high-ranking CIA official, described government actions during COVID and those of former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci. He said suppression of the lab leak theory, now widely accepted as the pandemic's start, "was significantly influenced by Anthony Fauci, injecting himself into the IC [intelligence community]."

Erdman detailed how Fauci placed scientists in oversight roles who supported the wet-market theory. Some, he said, were arguably complicit in COVID's creation and coverup.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said Fauci lied because "he helped fund the Wuhan lab. He supported and funded gain-of-function research, and then he tried to cover it up, and then he worked to cover it up from the American people." Hawley added, "I hope he’s indicted."

Rutgers professor and molecular biologist Richard Ebright, a Fauci critic, said misfeasance by science administrators kept the true COVID origins story from the public. "Notably, [former National Institutes of Health Director] Francis Collins and Fauci, deliberately misinformed the public about the origin of COVID, and many scientists, science journalists and general journalists joined them in deliberately misinforming the public about the origin of COVID."

Ebright said all informed persons knew by January-February 2020 that COVID likely came from a research-related incident. That incident involved reckless gain-of-function research in Wuhan, enabled by U.S. government funding approved by Collins and Fauci in violation of policies prohibiting such funding.

Ebright believes people were intentionally misled. Fauci excluded experts like Ebright from scientific discussions on COVID. Opponents of the wet-market theory and lockdowns were labeled kooks.

Ebright warned of the worst case if lessons are not learned. "Reckless gain-of-function research continues, and continues to receive U.S. government funding," he said. "This sets the stage for a next, possibly even worse, lab-generated pandemic."

Hawley said enough evidence exists for Fauci's indictment. Republicans continue to uncover details as Democrats avoid the issue.