GOP Senator Rips CIA for Giving ‘Big Middle Finger’ to Congress Over Covid Investigation

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) went off on the CIA for giving the “big middle finger” to Congress on Wednesday after the agency complained about the Senate Homeland Security Committee subpoenaing a CIA agent. That agent accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of playing an “intentional” role in the “cover-up” of COVID-19’s origins while testifying earlier in the day.

Johnson called for CIA Director John Ratcliffe and others at the agency to apologize for condemning the hearing.

“This is not political theater. I have years and years and years of built-up frustration of agencies like the CIA, Department of Justice committee, FBI, HHS, snubbing our oversight,” Johnson vented. “Giving us the big middle finger.”

That was a direct reference to CIA Director of Public Affairs Liz Lyons’s statement calling the hearing “nothing more than dishonest political theater masquerading as a congressional hearing.” She also called out Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who spearheaded the hearing.

“The Committee acted in bad faith by subpoenaing an Agency officer for testimony today without notifying CIA, despite having already obtained closed-door testimony from the individual previously,” Lyons said in her statement to Fox News. “The witness testifying today is not appearing as a whistleblower in pursuit of the truth, but instead in response to the subpoena issued by Chairman Paul.”

Lyons added the “CIA has already assessed, COVID-19 most likely originated from a lab leak, and efforts to undermine that conclusion are disingenuous.”

The CIA’s response to the hearing was driven by the testimony of James Erdman III, a special operations officer who joined the agency in 2013.

Erdman accused Fauci of of “injecting” himself into the intelligence community’s investigation on the origins of COVID-19; he also said Fauci’s interference may have played a role in the agency scrapping a plan in 2021 to announce the virus was leaked from a Chinese lab.

“Public health policy would have been very different had the American public been made aware that a virus from a lab in China was going to serve as the foundation for an emergency use authorization MRNA products being mandated by the former administration,” Erdman testified in his opening remarks. “Dr. Fauci’s role in the cover-up was intentional. Dr. Fauci influenced the analytical process and findings by leveraging his position to insure the IC consulted with the conflicted list of curated subject matter experts, public health officials, and scientists.”

Watch above via Fox News.

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