In this episode, we take a look at how the deep state is trying to delegitimize our ability to do what we need to do to protect ourselves from pandemics, and why we should be worried about pandemic viruses coming from China.
00:01:47.000And what I do is I look at the evidence around a hypothesis.
00:01:51.000There is a huge amount of evidence that these viruses repeatedly emerge into people from wild animals in rural areas through things like hunting and eating wildlife.
00:02:01.000There is zero evidence that this virus came out of a lab in China.
00:02:05.000I've called on Secretary Azar to immediately halt this grant to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
00:02:13.000And at worst, they've been negligent to the point of many, many deaths throughout the world.
00:02:18.000Dishonest and negligent allegations have now ended EcoHealth's carefully reviewed research designed to stop pandemics.
00:02:27.000This politicization of science is really damaging.
00:02:31.000You know, the conspiracy theories out there have essentially closed down communication between scientists in China and scientists in the US.
00:02:39.000We need that communication in an outbreak to learn from them how they controlled it so we can control it better.
00:02:45.000It's sad to say, but it will probably cost lives.
00:02:49.000By sort of narrow-mindedly focusing in on ourselves or on labs or on a certain cultural politics, we miss the real enemy.
00:03:01.000That clip is amazing every time I hear it.
00:03:04.000What is garbage masquerading as journalism coming from the premier CBS news product, 60 Minutes?
00:03:12.000But what you heard there was this Peter Daszek guy explaining to Scott Pelley that COVID was through some animal transmission,
00:03:24.000maybe the Wuhan wet market, but certainly not the lab that the US taxpayer had been funding, that Daszek had been benefiting from.
00:03:33.000And this great collaboration with China that they champion is certainly not something that is inured to the benefit of Americans.
00:03:39.000We've got a million dead people as a result of us putting money behind the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
00:03:44.000And of course, now you saw from the report in the Wall Street Journal that the lab leak is the most likely origin of COVID-19.
00:03:53.000The US Department of Energy had not concluded that previously.
00:03:56.000So this is news, but it mirrors what we've been saying all along.
00:03:59.000That the origins of COVID are undeniably this lab funded by the American taxpayer.
00:04:08.000And so there weren't a whole lot of voices out there making this argument after 60 Minutes said it was conspiratorial and outlandish and dishonesty that we were the ones politicizing science.
00:04:21.000When in fact, it was Peter Daszek and the folks there perverting science engaged in gain of function research and the consequences were tragic.
00:04:32.000It's important to note that everything that we take as fact today was a discredited conspiracy theory.
00:04:39.000And it would have gotten you banned from Twitter before Elon Musk bought it, but it was the truth.
00:04:46.000And that gain of function research certainly was among the most dangerous research going on.
00:04:54.000And it also mirrors the State Department cables that showed back in 2019 or 2018 that the United States had grave concerns about the lack of safety around that lab.
00:05:07.000But yet Peter Daszek is praised by Scott Pelley as heroic.
00:05:15.000What's even more ironic is that this gain of function research was funded by the American taxpayer.
00:05:21.000It was the National Institute of Health that got paid millions of dollars through NIH paying for a Chinese lab, resulting in one of the largest pandemics in recent human history.
00:05:35.000I guess that explains why Dr. Fauci was so nervous at the beginning of the pandemic.
00:05:40.000He probably knew exactly what COVID was and exactly where it came from.
00:05:45.000That's a $3.7 million grant, Wuhan Institute of Virology, signed by you, the American taxpayer.
00:06:00.000And there has to be accountability for it.
00:06:03.000There is a COVID select committee that has been set up.
00:06:07.000And I hope that they do the diligent work to confirm this work by the U.S. Department of Energy.
00:06:12.000And like, where's the apology from Scott Pelley, who said that I had, quote, killed critical research funding.
00:06:20.000Meanwhile, CBS was boosting and platforming corrupt scientists, deadly scientists like Peter Daszak.
00:06:28.000The damage is done and the plethora of lies have been peddled to the American public.
00:06:33.000But we must hold this administration accountable and the corrupt industries that were intermediaries for this devastating lab leak and research.
00:06:43.000Also want to share my thoughts on what's going on around the world.
00:06:49.000Now, the Washington war machine is raging at full speed right now as the Biden administration continues to escalate the war in Ukraine.
00:06:58.000It was Lincoln on Facebook who asked the question, why are we paying Ukrainian salaries and pension?
00:07:06.000Not just salaries, but literally the U.S. taxpayer is funding pension liabilities for Ukrainian officials.
00:09:20.000And it's exactly why 11 congressmen joined me in introducing my bill titled the Ukraine Fatigue Resolution,
00:09:28.000which halts USAID to Ukraine and urges the parties to negotiate an end to this conflict.
00:09:35.000And we totally have the power to do this.
00:09:38.000You know, we hear Jake Sullivan and so many others take the White House's message that only Ukraine can decide the future of Ukraine.
00:09:50.000But that just totally rejects a realistic view of foreign policy where our relationships with our neighbors do in a lot of ways define our boundaries and the way we protect our boundaries.
00:10:03.000In the United States' posture currently, you've got Mexico, a captive narco state, that is functioning as a turnstile for people all over the world to enter into our country illegally.
00:10:16.000And in Ukraine, of course, the relationship with Russia is going to define who controls Crimea and different portions of the territories that even the Ukrainians called the ungoverned territories in eastern Ukraine.
00:10:30.000One thing that shocked me, even China has a peace plan for Ukraine.
00:10:39.000And while the United States just rejected it summarily, nope, can't do it, can't do a peace plan, send another several billion dollars in arms.
00:10:52.000And I found that interesting that Ukraine, that Zelensky indicated that he wanted to meet with Xi.
00:10:59.000And so while China is undeniably an adversary that seeks to dominate the world, you always hear from the hawks and the neocons that it puts America in a better posture to combat China and all of our adversaries if somehow we're the world's policemen.
00:11:15.000Well, what if China sees that our involvement is extending the bloodshed in the conflict that I'm sure the people in this area would like to see come to an end and they swoop in with a peace deal and they look like the adult in the room while you've got U.S. policymakers just shilling for defense contractors.
00:11:35.000So we should be champions for peace, not extended forever wars.
00:11:39.000And in a lot of ways right now the United States is in a state of managed decline and we cannot continue to meddle in other countries' wars.
00:11:49.000We need to put the needs of our country and our own people first before the wants and wars of other nations.
00:11:56.240But if Ukraine isn't enough of a quagmire, we surely are making matters worse in Syria.
00:12:02.660It was recently reported that there were four American troops and a working dog injured in Syria while chasing an ISIS leader during a partnered raid with the Syrian Democratic Forces, whoever they happen to be loyal to today.
00:12:18.100As we know, in Syria, the alliances and allegiances often shift as frequently as the sand.
00:15:21.260And it's hard to see where these U.S.-funded, U.S.-led efforts are ultimately successful in accomplishing the objective of servicing our goals.
00:15:34.280And so I think we need to be more realistic and do less, say less, as they say, do less me.
00:15:40.080So I want to talk a little bit also about what's going on at Project Veritas.
00:15:45.040Project Veritas has long been at the tip of our spear, exposing corruption and fighting for truth and transparency,
00:15:53.360often in uncomfortable places, often with nontraditional features of journalism.
00:15:59.860Now, we used to call the search for truth, even if it's uncomfortable, regardless of where it leads, we used to call that journalism.
00:16:09.380But until James O'Keefe founded Project Veritas, it seemed dead as a doornail.
00:16:15.600James O'Keefe single-handedly resurrected journalism from its swampy grave, and it hasn't been easy at times.
00:16:21.660James has faced every challenge imaginable, from trumped-up charges to civil suits to FBI harassment and more.
00:16:30.260And yet, throughout these trials, he has managed to take on our biggest enemies, the most powerful political institutions,
00:17:46.620They had an event at Miami Beach that was like a musical celebration of the journey of Project Veritas and all the courage that has to go into this type of guerrilla journalism.
00:17:58.940And when you're out there trying to encourage people to be whistleblowers or insiders, you have to acknowledge that their life is going to change, especially if they're publicly making allegations against the powerful.
00:18:16.040They have family members disavow them.
00:18:18.240Their housing situation can change if they have a recalcitrant or agitated roommate.
00:18:23.120And so an important part of the Project Veritas experience is celebration and having a moment to celebrate the brave who came forward is the only way to perpetuate the system where more people will see that that risk in life is worth it and can lead to change and can be acknowledged by others.
00:18:46.360And so bringing these folks together with policymakers and others was actually a really important thing for Project Veritas to be involved in.
00:18:58.580So when you look at the fact that it's like black cars and a Christmas party that undergird the allegations against O'Keefe, they kind of sound ridiculous.
00:19:08.320And to O'Keefe's credits, he has the receipts.
00:19:11.980He exposed this coup for what it really is.
00:19:15.400And if you listen to him explain in his own words in his farewell speech, you'll see it too.
00:20:00.440And I felt like we had a conflict of visions.
00:20:02.420We measure our success in terms of what we produce, not just in terms of our wallets.
00:20:09.580That was a pretty fundamental conflict, I felt.
00:20:11.780Later that same day, that's Thursday, February 2nd, a few days after the 50 million viewed visor videos, I was informed by a different officer of Project Veritas.
00:20:41.340That he would go to the board in a few hours from that moment and have an emergency vote to restructure this company.
00:20:49.080Receiving an agenda in my email while I was sitting on an airplane tarmac with the doors closing, the meeting was scheduled for the moment that my plane landed in Nashville.
00:20:59.020It became clear to me in that moment I would be removed from my position at Project Veritas by the time I landed at my destination.
00:21:12.260And what's interesting to me is that James almost forecasted this eventuality on this podcast, on Firebrand.
00:21:21.860There's a lot of love for James O'Keefe right now on the Insta feed.
00:21:26.040One person calling me a QAnon conspiracy theorist, but a lot of love for James O'Keefe.
00:21:30.500But take a listen. This is an episode we did with James O'Keefe, February 3rd, 2022.
00:21:37.500I worry that the fact that your organization is the only organization in America that does what you do, it brings a certain frailty to it.
00:21:48.980And that's what I what I fear most is that something could happen to Project Veritas and then there would almost be no way to get corruption out.
00:21:57.420There would be no platform for whistleblowers. And so I just wonder, like, what do you fear most as you wake up every day with with the burden of managing this organization, inspiring these whistleblowers, being the caretakers of their stories?
00:22:11.920What worries you? Well, good question. I don't think what worries me is what worries everyone else.
00:22:17.280I mean, people ask these questions like, do you fear for your life and this sort of thing?
00:22:20.680And I mean, you should. I guess the question presupposes that one is afraid to begin with.
00:22:25.700And I think it's the fear that is dangerous. Like FDR said, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
00:22:30.000Well, I think being a leader is hard. Like Veritas has like 70 employees now and quite a budget that's that's given to all these, you know, by these generous people, thousands and thousands of people.
00:22:40.840Just leadership. Just it's hard being a leader.
00:22:42.960It's hard, you know, it's it's hard commanding respect from being in the office and running an organization, running a company.
00:22:52.460I've had to learn how to be a CEO. I've had to learn how to be an organizational entrepreneur.
00:22:56.460That's probably the hardest thing about what I do. Not so much the external battles.
00:22:59.820It's really remarkable that quite some time ago, James realized that if something was going to hurt Project Veritas, it wasn't going to be a threat from the outside.
00:23:12.440That that internal leadership is so critical to the success of an organization like Project Veritas.
00:23:18.900And this development sheds a light on what James told me.
00:23:22.900I'm sure there's going to be more details to come.
00:23:25.320But what I know for sure is that there is really no Project Veritas to even imagine or contemplate without James O'Keefe.
00:23:34.940James O'Keefe is Project Veritas and Project Veritas's supporters agree.
00:23:39.960Since James O'Keefe's departure, Project Veritas has lost hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter.
00:23:46.600I didn't follow them once they weren't associated with James O'Keefe.
00:23:51.000My official office account stopped following them.
00:23:53.940I don't think Project Veritas survives without its leader.
00:23:58.380If there's one person in our movement that deserves our loyalty, it's James O'Keefe.
00:24:03.200And if anyone stabs him in the back, they're stabbing our movement in the back.