Some Republicans in Congress are pushing for an investigation into Pfizer following the release of a video alleging that the pharmaceutical company is engineering “mutations” of COVID-19 for future monetary benefit.
Among them is Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is now a member of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. She called for an immediate investigation Tuesday in relation to the video published by Project Veritas.
The video was published Tuesday on social media channels like Twitter, where it has been viewed over 21 million times. It includes a conversation between an unidentified Project Veritas reporter and a Pfizer employee identified as “Jordon Trishton Walker, Director of Research and Development–Strategic Operations and mRNA Scientific Planning.”
“We’re exploring, like, you know how the virus keeps mutating?” the interviewee tells the Project Veritas counterpart. “Well, one of the things we’re exploring is like, why don’t we just mutate it ourselves, so we could focus on, create, preemptively develop new vaccines, right?”
The nearly 10-minute video is edited and only includes clips of the interviewee.
“The Pfizer Director…is caught on video discussing mutating the virus to change the vaccines & how Covid is a cash cow!” Greene tweeted. “Pfizer took BILLIONS of federal [dollars]. Our Covid Select Subcommittee MUST investigate!”
BREAKING: @Pfizer Exploring “Mutating” COVID-19 Virus For New Vaccines
“Don’t tell anyone this…There is a risk…have to be very controlled to make sure this virus you mutate doesn’t create something…the way that the virus started in Wuhan, to be honest.”#DirectedEvolution pic.twitter.com/xaRvlD5qTo
— Project Veritas (@Project_Veritas) January 26, 2023
Greene was appointed to the committee following her strong support of Kevin McCarthy to become speaker of the House. Ohio Representative Brad Wenstrup chairs the committee.
Wenstrup, a podiatric surgeon and former combat surgeon in Iraq, has not publicly acknowledged the Project Veritas video, nor did his office respond to Newsweek‘s request for comment. A Newsweek Fact Check article published Thursday rated the claim that Pfizer is mutating COVID as unverified.
Wenstrup recently told Roll Call that his intentions within the committee involve trying to understand the origins of COVID, which could help future treatment of patients.
“What I want to come away with is—whether something comes from nature, whether it came from the lab, whether it came from a bioweapon intentionally or unintentionally—that we can do our best to be prepared to fight it, to maybe predict it,” Wenstrup said.
Another new committee member is Texas Representative Ronny Jackson, a former White House physician in the Obama and Trump administrations.
He has repeatedly tweeted about Dr. Anthony Fauci and piggybacked on Greene’s intentions to question Pfizer in public.
“CLEAR YOUR CALENDAR @pfizer!” Jackson tweeted. “I’m sure the committee to investigate Covid will have questions on this!!”
Greene mentioned Pfizer receiving billions in federal funding, though she previously owned stock in Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson as of August 2021.
Nick Dyer, Greene’s spokesperson, told Newsweek in December 2021 that Greene does not handle her investments and that a third-party adviser maintains her investment portfolio.
Meanwhile, former President Trump earlier this month refuted claims that COVID vaccines are unsafe, which is contrary to what Greene and some of her ilk have claimed.
Trump touted Operation Warp Speed on the conservative podcast The Water Cooler, even taking credit for “saving 100 million lives.”
Newsweek reached out to Pfizer and Wenstrup for comment.
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