Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., saying Americans deserved answers, doubled down on his calls for a congressional hearing to determine how COVID-19 originated.
"It’s time for the misinformation, unanswered questions and Communist China-driven propaganda to stop," he said on Thursday. "We know this pandemic came from Communist China. We know it’s now killed 595,000 Americans and 3.7 million people worldwide.
"Washington Democrats and their friends in the media said it was crazy that we’d have a vaccine in record time. Wrong. They said it was racist to call out the Communist Chinese government’s obvious role and responsibility for the international spread and cover-up of this deadly virus. Wrong again.
"Without evidence to the contrary, they quickly dismissed the possibility that COVID-19 may have leaked from a Wuhan lab (in China). It’s like they caught a man at the scene of the crime and refused to label him a suspect. They were willing to ignore and even conceal crucially important information about the origin and development of the murderous pandemic – all to advance their political agendas.
"Now, we see the consequences of the blind spots they purposely created. Dr. (Anthony) Fauci and media executives should be called to testify at a bipartisan hearing so the American people can understand why they chose to not take these claims seriously last year. These are serious questions we all need answers to."
Scott claimed the mainstream news media had a "China virus blind spot" and the outlets put politics and ratings above public safety.
"It was a dangerous politically-driven agenda that put Floridians and all American families at risk," he said. "The American people deserve the truth and transparency I’ve been calling for since this pandemic started. We know the Communist Chinese government is responsible for the coronavirus pandemic, and they lied to cover it up with the help of the World Health Organization (WHO).
"Now, we need answers about how this pandemic got started and who is responsible. These failures costs lives, and it’s time for accountability."
Scott noted he has been calling for "answers and accountability" from the WHO for more than a year.
Meanwhile, Fauci insisted Thursday that he still feels that the coronavirus pandemic began with a virus, but even if it began with a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, he doesn't think the release was intentional.
"The idea, I think, is quite far-fetched that the Chinese deliberately engineered something so that they could kill themselves as well as other people," Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on CNN’s "New Day." "I think that's a bit far out."
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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