House Republicans are “building the case” to issue criminal referrals against Dr. Anthony Fauci for lying to Congress, according to news reported on “The Benny Show” with journalist Benny Johnson.
“So, specifically before your committee, and also before Rand Paul over in the Senate, Dr. Fauci has, of course, absolved himself of all funding of gain-of-function,” Johnson said. “He said he doesn’t know anything about it. It is verifiable and demonstrable that he lied. Now, there are codes in Congress. I have a code right here, 18 U.S. Code 1001.”
“1001,” Jordan said.
“Statements — false statements to Congress,” Johnson said. “Says you can be imprisoned, says you can be imprisoned for eight years if you lie to Congress. It seems like there has never been a more clear-cut case of some individual lying to Congress.”
“Yeah, we can do — there could be a referral, but you would refer to the Biden Justice Department,” Jordan remarked. “I don’t know that — they’re going to pursue that, but you can definitely do that. You could, have to have one of the committees, the Senate Judiciary Committee could do a referral. I doubt they will with the Democrats in charge.”
“We could do a referral potentially,” he continued. “I would, frankly, prefer just to have Dr. Fauci come back in and take another round of questions here, but we’re building the case. You know, like, we had Dr. Redfield testify last week, Chairman Wenstrup did. I thought he was — I thought he was great. As were the other witnesses that were brought in.”
WATCH:
🚨BREAKING: Rep. @Jim_Jordan on Dr. Fauci’s lies before Congress: "We’re building the case" for criminal referrals.
SUBSCRIBE to The Benny Show: https://t.co/eFopXPngL4 pic.twitter.com/UNyxSqOuU8
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 10, 2023
“So, again, laying that foundation,” he continued. “I do think Dr. Fauci and the CDC changed the definition of gain-of-function research, so that Fauci has, like, this wiggle room, but they were juicing up this virus, no doubt about it, juicing up this virus, making it more — I don’t know the technical, but making it juiced up and more deadly, I guess, maybe the correct word.”
“Yes,” Johnson remarked.
“So, they were doing that in this lab and I think that’s clear,” Jordan said. “So, we’ll just have to see as we move through this investigation.”
Senator Rand Paul announced in July 2021 that he would send a criminal referral to the Department of Justice for lying to Congress.
Senator Paul’s announcement comes after fireworks with Dr. Fauci over his statements regarding the NIAID’s funding of ‘gain of function’ research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology through the subcontractor EcoHealth Alliance.
“Dr. Fauci, as you’re aware, it is a crime to lie to Congress,” Senator Paul began his interrogation of Fauci. “Section 1001 of the U.S. Criminal Code creates a felony and a five-year penalty for lying to Congress.”
“On your last trip to our committee on May 11th, you stated that the NIH has not ever and has not now funded gain of function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” Paul continued. “And yet, gain of function research was done entirely in the Wuhan Institute by Dr. Shi and was funded by the NIH.”
On Tuesday, the House’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic held hearings that eviscerated Fauci’s numerous lies on SARS-CoV-2 origins.
“We know the Wuhan Institute of Virology was conducting gain of function research on novel bat coronaviruses by creating chimeric viruses, combining two viruses together to test infectivity and infecting mice with these viruses work that former Covid-19 task force coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx confirmed was in fact gain-of-function contrary to statements by Dr. Fauci,” Chair Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) said.
Former CDC Director Robert Redfield accused Dr. Fauci of keeping him out of conversations with researchers so that he could cover up the lab leak theory.
Rep. Malliotakis: "Do you think that “Proximal Origins” hides the truth?"
Dr. Robert Redfield: "I think it’s an inaccurate paper that basically was part of a narrative that they were creating." pic.twitter.com/Oom8qLezZz
— Becker News (@NewsBecker) March 8, 2023
Fauci subsequently denied Redfield’s charge in an interview with Neil Cavuto on Fox Business.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) then laid into Fauci for deceiving the public.
“He was trying to cover his backside, and everybody knows it,” Jordan said. “This is the highest paid guy in our govt. getting all kinds of money to tell us things that were not accurate. US tax dollars went to a lab in China, a lab that was not up to code, a lab that was doing gain of function research, and that’s where this thing most definitely came from and Dr. Fauci could not have that news getting out.”
It is time for the U.S. Congress to hold Dr. Fauci accountable for misleading the American people throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Even if that ultimate reckoning does not come under this Senate and White House, the Republican Party is right to start “building the case.”