House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) letter-writing has seen a sharp uptick of late. Last Friday, it was Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and DOJ No. 3 turned lead prosecutor in the Trump Manhattan case Matthew Colangelo; Thursday, it was top prosecutor in the Mar-a-Lago/classified documents case Jay Bratt.
Now, Jordan has issued a letter to Dr. Anthony Fauci following his June 3 testimony before the Oversight Committee’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. As Jordan explains, as chair of both the Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, he (and the committee) are looking into “how and to what extent the Executive Branch has coerced or colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor Americans’ speech.” Given Fauci’s role with the COVID-19 Response Team, he’s presumed to have pertinent information.
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This isn’t just a polite query, however. Jordan’s letter makes it clear they’re calling Fauci on his BS (emphasis added).
In 2021, while you served as Chief Medical Advisor to President Biden and Chief Medical Advisor for the Response Team, senior Biden White House officials from that team engaged in a monthslong censorship effort. Internal Facebook communications obtained by the Committee and Select Subcommittee reveal that one of the world’s largest social media platforms censored the lab leak theory because of “pressure” from the Biden White House. Consistent with the silencing of those who dared to express an opposing viewpoint, you and other bureaucrats reportedly “sidelined” Dr. Robert Redfield, then-Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) because he “had a different point of view” and believed the virus “came from a Wuhan lab.”
On June 3, 2024, you testified before the Oversight Committee’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (Coronavirus Select Subcommittee) that you have “kept an open mind” about the lab leak theory and did not play a part in the “push to downplay the lab leak theory.” This is false on its face. It is also contradicted by Facebook’s decision to remove content about the lab leak theory because of “pressure” from the Biden Administration, particularly the Response Team, of which you were a member. To better understand how and to what extent the Executive Branch has coerced or colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor Americans’ speech, we respectfully request that you appear for a transcribed interview before the Committee.
In addition, recent reporting from the Coronavirus Select Subcommittee alleges that you may have taken “part in a conspiracy amongst the highest levels of [National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)]” to “destroy” or “hide” “official records regarding the origins of COVID-19,” including by conducting official business on your personal email and deleting official records in an attempt avoid the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and public disclosure to the American people.
The letter asks Fauci to produce communications with the Executive Branch regarding the suppression of information as well as internal communications from NIAID regarding the deletion of content and to contact the committee to set his interview by June 21. For extra fun, it instructs him to review any materials produced to refresh his recollection so that his interview answers are more than just variations of “I dunno.”
We also ask that you review the documents produced to the Committee before your interview in order to refresh your memory. On November 23, 2022, you were deposed in Murthy v. Missouri (then-captioned Missouri v. Biden) and stated “I do not recall,” “I don’t remember,” or variations thereof at least 212 times.
Yes, yes, I know — another sternly worded letter. We’ve all grown a bit cynical about how these things work, but we do need to remember that the process generally involves a letter first, followed by a subpoena. And even those don’t have a ton of teeth when the GOP only holds the House. Jordan and his committees can find witnesses in contempt of Congress and make criminal referrals to their heart’s content, but with a Biden-controlled DOJ, their enforcement capabilities are limited.
So, it may not be much, but it’s better than nothing when you consider the information that’s been uncovered during the 118th Congress. Perhaps I’m still too much of an optimist. In any case, we’ll see whether and to what extent “The Science” responds.
