Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) grilled Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing Wednesday. Since the hearing came on the heels of an intelligence report on Wuhan Virology Institute falling ill in November 2019, much of the discussion surrounded COVID-19 origins.

Fauci has previously testified that the Wuhan lab did not receive any U.S. government funds towards their gain-of-function research. But, Kennedy pressed Fauci further. “How do you know the Wuhan lab didn’t lie to you and use U.S. grant money to conduct gain-of-function virus research anyway?” Kennedy asked the NIAID director. At first, Fauci responded that the lab published their research.

“There’s no way of guaranteeing that,” Fauci said. Yet, he claimed the scientists in that lab were “trustworthy.”

“I cannot guarantee that a grantee has never lied to us because you never know,” Fauci ended.

“Can we agree,” Kennedy retorted, “that if you took President Xi Jinping and turned him upside and shook him, the World Health Organization would fall out of his pocket?”

“I don’t think I can answer that, sir,” Fauci replied while laughing.

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