Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) is asking CDC Director Rochelle Walensky for her opinion on where COVID-19 originated, saying Dr. Anthony Fauci “seems confused.”
Walensky began to tell Kennedy the issue has been studied by the World Health Organization (WHO) when he jumped in, saying, “I’m asking your opinion.”
She replied, “I don’t believe I’ve seen enough data, individual data for me to be able to comment on that.”
When asked what the possibilities are, Walensky responded, “Most coronaviruses that we know of are of origin that have infected the population… generally come from an animal origin and… certainly a lab based origin is one possibility.”
Kennedy then asked, “Is the United States funding gain of function research?”
Walensky said, “Not to my knowledge.”
Watch the video below:
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) presses CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky on the origin of the coronavirus and says “Dr. Fauci seems confused, with all due respect.” pic.twitter.com/0pBuAvJOmT
— The Recount (@therecount) May 19, 2021
She then claimed Fauci “would be the one who knows best.”
Kennedy fired back, “Dr. Fauci seems confused, with all due respect. I’m asking you to give us that information.”
The senator’s comments come a little more than a week after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) clashed with Fauci over the origins of the virus, as IJR reported.
During a Senate hearing Paul asked Fauci, “Do you still support funding… of the lab in Wuhan?”
Fauci answered, “Senator Paul, with all due respect, you are entirely and completely incorrect that the NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain of function research in the Wuhan institute.”
After Paul suggested he supports gain of function research, Fauci fired back, “I don’t favor gain of function research. You are saying things that are not correct.”
Fauci later reiterated, “We have not funded gain of function research on this virus in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. No matter how many times you say it, it didn’t happen.”