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Miami, FL — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined Special Report with Brett Baier on Fox News to discuss the latest intelligence news, the need to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for its actions regarding the coronavirus pandemic, and the need to move critical supply chains out of China. See below for highlights and watch the full interview below.

On latest developments regarding the Michael Flynn prosecution:
 
“I’ve always found it to be a bizarre prosecution. This is a career intelligence person who clearly would have known that if he had talked to a foreign official that that is probably being monitored and so forth, and I doubt very seriously someone like that would go into an interview deliberately trying to lie or mislead a federal agent. My sense is they probably approached him as some sort of a friendly, check the box, defensive interview as opposed to an effort to sort of trap him, so it’s disturbing revelations to see that now in those memos.”
 
On reports that coronavirus came from an accidental laboratory release in Wuhan:
 
“Number one, I think it’s important that everybody understand there’s a difference between modifying it — deliberately creating it — and an accident at a lab. The point is, the fact that we have to ask these questions and are speculating about it is because we are dealing with a government in China that is transparent. They would cover that up if that were the case… 
 
“Generally if a pandemic is being spread from animals to people, you’re going to have multiple people infected at the outset. It won’t just be one person. If on the other hand, this has the attributes of something that started with … a patient zero type situation, that is more indicative of sort of an accident or a singular exposure that led to a broader infection. I do believe that is something that epidemiologists and virologists will look at.
 
“Again, it would be a lot easier to know the answer to these questions if the Chinese were transparent, and we’re willing to say, ‘Come in, let’s figure this out together so this never happens again.’ Obviously they’re not only not going to do that, they’re going to try to mislead the world as much as possible.”
 
On holding China accountable for its actions regarding the coronavirus pandemic:
 
“I think the notion that we can force them to pay money is a difficult one to enforce, but I have no doubt in my mind that the entire world, irrespective of what they’re saying publicly, are going to be reevaluating their relationship with China. The harm this has done to them, and rightfully so, is extraordinary… 
 
“If China had acted appropriately three weeks earlier than they did, this could have very well been contained in China geographically.
 
“Now, some countries can’t afford to take on China because they have too much riding on it economically, but a number of countries know full well the Chinese have misled on this from the very beginning, and that the world has been harmed by that. And I think that there will be consequences, diplomatically, economically, and beyond.”
 
On the need to reduce dependence on China for critical supply chain:
 
“Your supply chain, your ability to provide basic needs for your country are critical. And I’ve always felt — and I’ve been talking about this now for a year and a half — that if you rely on a potential adversary for things that you need for your economy, you’ve given them tremendous leverage over you. And it extends beyond medical stuff…rare earth minerals and all sorts of other things.
 
“So I do think that we need, at a minimum, to do what we can to incentivize the return of some of those industries to the United States. And if not to the U.S., then to nations who we are allied and partnered with, to ensure that, in a time of a crisis, that we don’t have a Chinese Communist Party threatening or acting on cutting us off from something we need to defend ourselves or to operate economically.”