Lawmaker questions Dr. Fauci’s assertion that there was "no evidence" a virus came from a Chinese lab

At a meeting of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, a lawmaker opened by saying they had "rang the alarm bell in the very 1st days" of the COVID-19 outbreak and questioned why Dr. Anthony Fauci had said there was "no evidence" the virus originated in a Chinese laboratory. The lawmaker said constituents across Arkansas expressed concern that a "giant lab that was manipulating coronaviruses" was a likely origin and asked, "Why did Tony Fauci say there was no evidence of this when anyone with common sense and 2 eyes could have told you that was the most likely answer?"

The lawmaker also told the committee that those constituent concerns included the lab's proximity to the outbreak, saying it was "just a few 100 yards away from the supposed outbreak." The segments provided in the transcript contain the lawmaker's assertions and questions but do not include any response from Dr. Fauci or other witnesses to these specific allegations within the quoted segments. The lawmaker framed the remarks as having raised the issue in the "very first days," asserting they were acting on constituent reports and personal concern.