Then, my administration cut through every piece of red tape to achieve the fastest-ever, by far, launch of a vaccine trial for this new virus, this very vicious virus.
The only red tape that exists in vaccine development is the science of proving that it works and is safe. There was no way to know if he was lying or if he was bragging until after the fact. You have the benefit of hindsight, no one in 2020 had that benefit. We also don't know if he really lied or if simply got lucky in that no red tape had to be cut thanks to the first vaccine coming from Europe and not from the US so that was not an avenue that he needed to use.
The person who's taking you to lunch has no intention of paying.