Democratic senators blocked Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) effort to obtain testimony from one of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s assistants in exchange for her immunity. The assistant, who remains unknown, allegedly destroyed federal records on Fauci’s behalf.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted down a “resolution authorizing an application for a court order compelling testimony under immunity from Dr. Anthony Fauci’s longtime special assistant as part of the Committee’s investigation in the origins of COVID-19 and risky life sciences research,” according to the Committee.
According to Bill Melugin of Fox News, the Committee voted 8-7 along party lines, with Democrats voting against the measure. The unnamed assistant previously pleaded the Fifth Amendment before the Committee.
“A majority of the committee voted to seek the truth. All Republicans voted to seek the truth. We voted to protect this witness and hear her story,” Paul said. “All we needed was two Democrats who wanted to hear her story, but not a single one of them is interested in the investigation or the truth about destruction of federal records.”
He called the vote “disappointing,” but noted that the Committee’s efforts do not end here. “I will personally be sending a letter to the Department of Justice asking them to pursue this,” Paul said.
Fauci was previously revealed as having directed “delete this email” orders. According to documents released by Paul’s office last month, Fauci repeatedly instructed email recipients to delete the files upon reading them. The instructions were issued over a period of nearly eleven years, with one specifically ordered to also be removed from the deleted items folder.
The exposed emails record Fauci as having written to Dr. Clifford Lane, an official at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), “I do not want to put down in an e-mail what I think of all of this. Entirely predictable, however. We should discuss at your convenience. Please delete e-mail after you read it.”
