It's been easy for other events to get lost in the enormous (and well-justified) flurry of reporting everything that has exploded into the news cycle since former President Trump was found guilty in his Manhattan trial. But other things are going on that demand our attention.
On Friday, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic's chairman, Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) released the transcript of the Subcommittee's interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci's two-day interview, conducted in January.
As one might expect, that interview revealed some interesting information. Some highlights:
Dr. Fauci admitted the six-foot "social distancing" rule was poppycock, based on nothing more than gaseous emanations:
Majority Counsel: “Do you recall when discussions regarding, kind of, the at least a 6 foot threshold began?”
Dr. Fauci: “The 6 foot in the school?”
Majority Counsel: “Six foot overall. I mean, 6-foot was applied at businesses—”
Dr. Fauci: “Yeah.”
Majority Counsel: “—it was applied in schools, it was applied here. At least how the messaging was applied was that 6-foot distancing was the distance that needed to be—“
Dr. Fauci: “You know, I don’t recall. It sort of just appeared. I don’t recall, like, a discussion of whether it should be 5 or 6 or whatever. It was just that 6 foot is—”
Majority Counsel: “Did you see any studies that supported 6 feet?”
Dr. Fauci: “I was not aware of studies that in fact, that would be a very difficult study to do.”
So, we went through all that - the lecturing, the arrows telling us which way to walk up and down grocery store aisles, all that - for nothing. Great. Just great.
On masking, particularly, with schoolchildren:
Majority Counsel: “Since the — there’s been a lot of studies that have come out since the pandemic started, but specifically on this there have been significant on kind of like the learning loss and speech and development issues that have been associated with particularly young children wearing masks while they’re growing up. They can’t see their teacher talk and can’t learn how to form words. Have you followed any of those studies?”
Dr. Fauci: “No. But I believe that there are a lot of conflicting studies too, that there are those that say, yes, there is an impact, and there are those that say there’s not. I still think that’s up in the air.”
In this, Dr. Fauci proved himself to be a master of evading a direct answer. We can safely sum up Fauci's answer as, "Oh, well, there are some studies, and there are some other studies, and some say one thing, and some another." He answered in the negative; he did not look at any studies documenting any harm our nation's children may have suffered by having been forced to wear face diapers for months. He advocated for a policy without examining every aspect of the issue. Dr. Fauci, that is not how science works.
Previously on RedState: Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Releases Memos Implicating Fauci Advisor, Others
COVER-UP: Anthony Fauci's COVID Team Conspired to Evade FOIA Requests
Perhaps the most chilling part of the testimony involves gain of function research, as the transcript shows:
Dr. Fauci: “So, when I, to repeat, when I’m asked is something gain of function, I’m referring to the operative definition of gain of function according to the framework of the 3PCO…That’s my definition. That is the regulatory operational definition. And as we were talking about before, other people use the word “gain of function” this, “gain of function” that, and everybody’s got their own interpretation of it. But when you’re deciding whether a grant should be funded, this is the operational definition. And when I was asked anywhere by the Congress, by the Senate, by Senator Paul this is what I was referring to.”
Again: Dr. Fauci, that's not a direct answer, and that's not how science works. You don't get to just make up your own definition of gain of function research, which in virology, is this:
Gain of function can occur in an organism in either nature or the laboratory. Some lab examples include creating more salt- and drought-resistant plants or modifying disease vectors to produce mosquitoes that are resistant to transmitting dengue fever. Gain of function can also be useful for environmental reasons, such as modifying E. coli so that it can convert plastic waste into a valuable commodity.
In the current debate around SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, gain of function has a much narrower meaning related to a virus becoming easier to move between humans, or becoming more lethal in humans. It is important to remember, though, that the term "gain of function" by itself covers much more than this type of research.
That second paragraph - making a virus easier to move between humans, and becoming more lethal in humans - is how gain of function applies to bio-weapons research. That is what the Select Subcommittee was asking Dr. Fauci about and, once again, he evaded answering directly, instead giving his own derived definition that better served his own defense. The Wuhan laboratory, we should remember, was engaged in gain of function research, and was funded in part by U.S. taxpayer dollars.
Another interesting point involves travel restrictions; when Dr. Fauci was asked about whether he recommended instituting travel restrictions, a Biden administration official (unnamed) stepped in and shut the inquiry down. Why? We have no way of knowing that.
Also, Dr. Fauci claimed he "did not remember" the answers to specific questions at least 100 times. You would think that the actions he took, in the biggest event of his long career, would be burned indelibly into his mind, but that sure doesn't seem to be the case. For all the guy's vaunted brilliance, he sure has a bad memory.
I urge you to read the full transcripts (linked below), including all parts of Dr. Fauci's testimony along with his staff members, including Dr. Hugh Auchincloss, Dr. Cliff Lane, Greg Folkers, and Gray Handley. This was one of the key international incidents of the 21st century so far; it is the inherent right of every American to understand what happened, how the people who decided policy at that time made decisions, what lessons they learned from it (if any) and if we can expect anyone to be held to account for mistakes made.
The full transcripts of Dr. Fauci's interview are here and here. Read them and remember, because sooner or later, someone will try this again; a runaway truck is a lot easier to dodge if you see it coming.
Read more of RedState's COVID investigative reports at these links:
NEW: Senate Report Concludes COVID-19 Pandemic Was Likely Caused by Lab Leak in Wuhan
10 Facts About the Origin of SARS-CoV-2 Everyone Needs to Know
