[Hot Air] As Jazz pointed out yesterday, Sec. of State Blinken told Axios he was determined to uncover the truth about the origin of the coronavirus. He also echoed what appears to be an administration talking point about how uncovering the truth was in China’s best interest. But Aaron Blake has a piece at the Post which points out how hollow those assurances really are. In fact, no one in the Biden administration seems to have an answer for the next, obvious question: What do you do if China decides its interests are in covering up the truth? That’s the question that was put to Dr. Fauci last week.Top government infectious-disease expert Anthony S. Fauci was pressed on this Thursday on MSNBC. When he said that "it’s obviously in China’s interests to find out exactly" how the virus came about, Willie Geist logically followed up with a counterpoint: Isn’t it also in their interest to conceal that information "if there was a lab leak — or worse?"With that non-answer in mind, let’s circle back (as Jen Psaki might say) to Sec. Blinken’s answer about the importance of getting transparency from China. You really need to watch this clip to appreciate it. It’s only 2 minutes long. The first minute is spent with Blinken saying repeatedly how critical it is that we get this information from China. We "have to have" this information Blinken said. And then, like Fauci, he’s asked the obvious question: "So what’s the real pressure the US will put on China for access to the lab?" Sec. Blinken gives a great impersonation of a deer in headlights.
Fauci demurred.
"I don’t want to be speculating on that, because every time I say something like that, you know it as well as I, it will get completely taken out of context, and go into the Twitter world like crazy," Fauci said. "So, I mean, I’m going to leave that to other people and not surmise and guess who’s interest it is. It’s not helpful."