Chairman Wenstrup: The Wuhan Institute of Virology has a published record of gain of function research, including at low biosafety levels. We know that much of this work was done with US-based, EcoHealth Alliance. And we know EcoHealth Alliance has failed to publish all it's work, and has in fact, refused to share it's work with the US Government. In other words, US taxpayer, risky research that may have sparked a pandemic, is being hidden by a US entity in China.
Chairman Wenstrup: The Wuhan Institute of Virology has cooperated with the Chinese military since at least 2017, including on animal laboratory experiments.
Ruiz: In order to better be prepared for the future, it is crucial that we develop forward-looking domestic and foreign policies that advance American interests, protect our public health, and save lives. This means rejecting the isolationist approach President Trump took, under the guise of 'America First', that decimated the State Department, weakened our ability to engage, left a void that rendered America vulnerable to China's growing influence.
Ruiz: Let's get to work on forward-looking policies that will prevent and reduce the harm of future viruses and pandemics, without vilifying our nation's public health officials.
Ratcliffe: To this day, the CIA…has continued to state that it does not have enough information to make any formal assessment [COVID origin]. To put it bluntly, I think this is unjustifiable, and a reflection, not that the agency can't make an assessment with any confidence, but that it won't.
Chairman Grothman [Birder Hearing]: Cartels have exploited [Biden's] disastrous border policies to create one of the largest human trafficking and smuggling operations in the world…Border Patrol agents have told me that the cartels charge five to ten thousand dollars to individuals from the western hemisphere, and eighteen thousand or more for individuals from Asia, including Chinese nationals, for the right to cross our southwest border.
[Border Hearing] kek
Hearing link: >>18714376
Malliotakis: In November of 2021, Dr. Fauci told Senator Rand Paul under oath, that the NIH did not fund gain of function research at the Wuhan lab, despite having been explicitly told in an email in January of 2021 that NIH had a monetary relationship with the Wuhan Institute through the EcoHealth Alliance…Do you think that Dr. Fauci lied under oath?
Ratcliffe: I think that some of Dr.. Fauci's testimony is inconsistent with some of the intelligence that we have that remains classified, as well as inconsistent with some information that is publicly available.
Chairman Grothman: According to the New York Times…you've lost, or no longer know, where eighty-five thousand unaccompanied minors are. Was the New York Times article right?
Dunn Marcos [Director of Office of Refugee Resettlement]: We did not lose anyone…ORR's custodial authority ends when they are discharged to a vetted sponsor…ORR does not monitor or track the whereabouts of children after they are released from our care.
Grothman: Could the eighty-five thousand number be right? We don't know where eighty-five thousand unaccompanied minors wound up?
Dunn Marcos: We do not track…
Grothman: The answer is no. There are eighty-five thousand kids who came across the border, we don't know…is that right? Apparently it is.
Dunn Marcos: ORR works within the statues and authorities, and resources…
Grothman: Ok, we'll take that to mean we don't know where they are.
Tokuda: In an effort to deflect from his administration's botched pandemic response, President Trump looked for a scapegoat, and a way to score points with his base…he recklessly villainized AAPI people for his political gain, making our community human shields and red herrings to distract from his inability to deal on all levels with a public health crisis….President Trump using the phrase 'Chinese virus' on Twitter, anti-Asian rhetoric on the platform grew exponentially…President Trump began referring to COVID-19 as 'Kung-Flu' at campaign rallies across the country, ratcheting up vitriol among his right-wing base.
Marjorie Green: Dr. Lowenthal, you've said you keep your intelligence claims and information non-partisan. In 2018, you were quoted in the New York Times saying that President Trump is the best president that Russia ever had. That sounds pretty political to me.
Dr. Lowenthal: I was no longer an intelligence officer at the time, I'm a private citizen.
Greene: I think you have a difficult time keeping your political opinions out of your analysis.
Dingell: There appears to be a scientific consensus that this specific virus does not appear to have been developed as part of biological warfare.
Biggs: It's pretty weak sauce when you come in and ask a federal official to comment on a state law that hasn't even been passed yet…it's faux compassion.
[referring to black lives matter terrorist, Maxwell Frost, complaining about Florida bill making it a felony to knowingly transport someone who is undocumented]
Perry: What's the percentage of children that are reunited with their parent?
Dunn Marcos: In this fiscal year, thirty-seven percent…
Perry: Thirty-seven percent end up with their parent? Do you ever refer for charges for abandonment? Do you understand that abandonment in many states is a felony offense? Are charges ever referred for abandonment?
Dunn Marcos: ORR Is not an law enforcement…
Perry: I didn't ask you to enforce the law; do you ever refer? If you found someone doing a criminal act in your vetting process to one of these children, would you refer charges?
Dunn Marcos: We would refer to and report..
Perry: Ok, so how many have you referred or reported for abandonment?
Dunn Marcos: Our job…
Perry: Is that zero? Cause they are all coming to the border unaccompanied. If they're unaccompanied that means they don't have their parent….I'm not reading from stuff I made up. ORR sent over one hundred unaccompanied children to a single-family house in Texas…whistleblowers from ORR [say they] knowingly transferred UAC [unaccompanied minor children] to criminal and sex traffickers.
Higgins: The vast majority of these so-called unaccompanied children, are actually undocumented, illegal, young adults. They come into your system [ORR] with whatever standard of vetting you're deciding that month to enforce. At the expense of the American people, they get sent to their home of reported destination…they turn eighteen, they're gone.
Hawley: Do you know the number of unaccompanied children who have come across the border on your watch?
Mayorkas: I don't have that number at my disposal, but I can assure that we are incredibly dedicated to the safety and security of those children.
Hawley: It doesn't appear so…the answer to my question is three hundred and forty-five thousand, eight hundred and seven…do you know what is happening to these children?…thousands of children…working overnight in slaughterhouses, replacing roofs, operating machinery in factories, all in violation of child labor laws…there's a young girl from Guatemala, she is fifteen years old…she packages Cheerios overnight at a factory.
Hawley: Why is it you have enabled three hundred and forty-five thousand children to be smuggled across this border, and send into the hands of modern-day slave traders? In 2021, you made the decision to change Title 42, to allow unaccompanied children to come into the United States and then to be sent into the interior of the country.
Mayorkas: Quite a number of false statements…one of the significant policy decisions we have made is to focus our worksite enforcement investigative efforts, our criminal investigative efforts, on unscrupulous employers…that includes underage workers.
Hawley: That is not what the New York Times investigation found.
Hawley: You have at every stage, facilitated this modern-day indentured servitude of minor children. Why should you not be impeached for this?
Mayorkas: You are misstating the facts so terribly.
Hawley: I am reading you the facts from articles in the news, and your usual modus operandi is what you are doing again today, which is to deny, deny, deny. Why have you permitted three hundred and forty-five thousand children to come into this country unaccompanied? Why have you permitted thousands of them to be abused and exploited?
Mayorkas: What we do is enforce the law.
Hawley: You're not.
Mayorkas: It is stunning to me to hear you say that the prior administration reunited children with their parents…
Hawley: Oh, I see. So this is their fault. You're not going to take any responsibility for the indentured servitude and exploitation of children that is happening on your watch…we find tens of thousand of children who are forced to work as slaves because of your polices, and you turn around and blame a prior administration. This is par for the course for you. You do it every time you appear before this committee, you do it every time you appear before congress. I for one, am sick and tired of it, and thousands of children are in physical danger because of what you're doing. You should have resigned long ago, and if you cannot change course, you should be removed from office.