Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified on Capitol Hill Wednesday in defense of President Joe Biden's $7 trillion spending budget.
Under questioning from Republican Senator Rand Paul, who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Blinken continued to stonewall requests for the State Department to turn over crucial information about taxpayer funding of coronavirus research -- specifically in China. Blinken repeatedly claimed he could not turn over unredacted cables with detailed information about the funding to Senators.
"What is the State Department hiding? Why won't you give these records to the American people?" Paul asked.
The American people need to know what the State Department is funding. Today I questioned Sec. Blinken on their involvement in COVID research. What is the State Department hiding? Why won't they give these records to the American people? pic.twitter.com/7jkS5eOgTy
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) March 22, 2023
While President Biden signed bipartisan legislation to declassify some information about the origins of the pandemic, he also said he would deem much of the documentation classified and therefore, unable to be viewed by the American public.
"Most of the information is unclassified and they refuse to give it," Paul said during an interview with Fox News. "Tony Fauci approved and gave money to the lab in Wuhan. By approving that, he shares some culpability in the origins of this virus so he's always going to deny that it came from a lab because it comes back to his reputation for having incredibly poor judgement for sending this money to Wuhan."
The newly declassified documents on the origins of COVID-19 should be thoroughly investigated and open to public scrutiny. We must leave no stone unturned in the search for answers. I will continue to lead the charge in pursuit of the truth. pic.twitter.com/P9sqEcNOk5
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) March 21, 2023