CNN "The Lead with Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Interview with Todd Young

Interview

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SEN. TODD YOUNG (R-IN): Well, frankly from open source materials. I had a very strong suspicion that there was a high probability that there was a leak out of -- out of the Wuhan virology lab. As a former Marine Corps intelligence officer, one looks at direct evidence, but also circumstantial evidence, and here you happened to have a virology lab that works on the very variant of COVID we believe that has decimated the economy of the world and killed millions of people.

So it stands to reason that there should have been full access to the data analyzing this strain of COVID virus, that there should have been full access to the workers within the lab and that all of that should have been provided in an expeditious manner. None that have happened. The Chinese Communist Party instead was incredibly destructive and negligent in terms of being forthcoming.

And so, what we need to do is we need to address this as the Biden administration is now doing, ordering that 90-day investigation for -- so that the intelligence department can give us more clarity about the origins of the virus. But we also need to prepare for the future.

[16:20:01]

And among the things we need to do, we're considering in the floor of the United States Senate right now, like the Endless Frontier Act, which is my legislation working with Republicans and Democrats alike to invest in the technologies of the future that will allow the United States to the outgrow, out-innovate and outcompete the Chinese Communist Party. TAPPER: Uh-huh. Let me ask you. The Biden administration is leaning

on the World Health Organization to investigate the Wuhan lab theory. Obviously, that's -- they are more -- we are more likely to get some answers from WHO which China is party to than, you know, they are not going to let the CIA come in and give it a look.

YOUNG: Sure.

TAPPER: But do you think any -- any findings from -- from the World Health Organization will be credible at this point?

YOUNG: Well, look, they are certainly in need of great reform, perhaps replacement as an entity. In fact, I led a hearing on this before the virus ever impacted the world about reforming the World Health Organization and perhaps coming up with a better model.

But with that said, I think its credibility will only be undermined further if they don't -- if they aren't able to persuade the Chinese Communist Party to come up with the data pertaining to this virus and provide access to some of the Chinese nationals who were working on this virus.

I don't see any other way for the World Health Organization to restore its credibility in the eyes of Americans and many across the world who've seen them frankly place more trust in the Chinese Communist Party leadership and more deference to them than they had to the Western world.

TAPPER: Yeah. In the final months of the Trump administration, the State Department was trying to investigate in some way the Wuhan lab theory, but sources tell CNN that the Biden administration when they came in they shut that down.

And today, your Republican colleague John Kennedy from Louisiana, he pressed Dr. Fauci and others at the NIH about the guidance and whether they had offered any guidance to the Biden administration on shutting that down. Take a listen.

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FAUCI: We have no influence --

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): The State Department spiked the prior administration's study.

FAUCI: But that has nothing to do with the National Institutes of Health.

KENNEDY: So, they didn't consult with y'all?

FAUCI: They did not.

KENNEDY: Did they consult with you, Dr. Collins?

COLLINS: I read about it in the press this morning?

KENNEDY: Doc.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

KENNEDY: They just spiked it without talking to their experts?

You don't want to answer that, do you?

COLLINS: I just read about it.

KENNEDY: Thank you, Madam Chair.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I mean, I think he made his point.

What do you make of that?

YOUNG: The Biden administration, Secretary of State Blinken, the president himself needs to explain why they spiked this legitimate and very important investigation that was going on, seemingly interrupted for either ideological purposes or political purposes as opposed to any other legitimate reason.

In the absence of explanation, and we weren't able to get it from the chief health policy advisers of the Biden administration, then one can only assume these -- these other motives, and that's unfortunate when you're talking about the health of the American people here hand now, but also thinking about how we might prepare for another pandemic which is almost a certitude the way the Chinese Communist Party carries on their activities with wet markets, seemingly with poorly attended labs and other -- other problems, including not reporting the outbreak of a pandemic to the broader world that's violating international law over a year ago.

TAPPER: I mean, the Biden team made a big show out of the importance of listening to health experts, but apparently they didn't when it came to spiking this investigation at the State Department. You make --

YOUNG: You can't listen to the science and emphasize the importance of following science selectively. Otherwise your credibility becomes undermined and that applies to Republicans and Democrats alike, but it's really been the Democrats who've been placing great emphasis on this.

So once again, President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, they need to come up with answers.

TAPPER: Yeah, no, I agree. Senator Young, thank you so much for your time today.

YOUNG: Thank you, Jake.

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