WATCH: Glenn Greenwald tells Tucker Carlson the Biden administration is using the pandemic to clamp down on civil liberties

"There's been a civil liberties component to the COVID debate from the very beginning," Greenwald said. "Obviously there have been extreme debates about free speech."

"Now you're not allowed to question the efficacy of masks, whereas a year ago, if you had gone online and said you should wear masks you probably would have been banned because the consensus at the time was that you shouldn't.

"But there was a very consistent message for the first four to five months which was that anyone who doesn't stay at home, stay at home is essentially killing grandma sociopathically. Risking the lives of older citizens and then suddenly in May when George Floyd was killed by the Minneapolis police and there was this huge protest movement all over America.

"Suddenly the exact opposite reigned down which was not only now is it not your obligation to stay at home anymore, it's your obligation to out into the street. Huge numbers of people densely packed, one on top of the other.

"From the very beginning, health advice, and lockdown laws, and just the social ethos surrounding what we're supposed to do has been completely politicized by people pretending to follow the science.

"And we've seen some of the most draconian limitations on our freedom of movement, on our freedom of association, on our ability to live. Businesses closed all over the United States and no right to even question the efficacy or the wisdom of those policies," Greenwald said.