House Republicans are calling on senior Biden administration officials and experts to provide documents and testimony pertaining to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The virus was first identified in an outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. We are just 17 days out from the year 2023, and we still have no definitive answers on how the pandemic began despite its obvious national and world security implications.
Representatives James Comer (R-KY) and Jim Jordan (R-OH) released a list of dozens of individuals they expect testimony from after the GOP takes control of the House.
“Discovering the origin of COVID-19 is vital to providing accountability and protecting Americans in the future,” Comer said pointing to one theory that the virus leaked from a lab in Wuhan.
Comer also suggested Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Dr. Anthony Fauci, “was warned early on that the virus appeared man-made … and instead of blowing the whistle may have attempted to cover it up.”
RELATED: Rand Paul Celebrates Announcement That Fauci ISN’T Retiring: Now I Can Get Him Under Oath!
Republicans Poised to Investigate COVID Origins
The document demand also encompasses a group known as EcoHealth Alliance, which received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study coronavirus in bats, and has ties with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Fauci was accused by Senator Rand Paul of having lied to Congress about U.S. funding for such research in Wuhan.
“Surprise surprise – Fauci lied again,” said Paul, sharing an article that showed NIH provided a “bat coronavirus grant” to EcoHealth Alliance.
“And I was right about his agency funding novel Coronavirus research at Wuhan.”
Surprise surprise – Fauci lied again
And I was right about his agency funding novel Coronavirus research at Wuhan.
Read this thread and the papers released. https://t.co/zQizKXLdbd
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) September 7, 2021
“The American people deserve the facts and the truth about the origins of COVID-19,” Jordan said in a statement.
“COVID-19 disrupted our lives and livelihoods for over two years: kids couldn’t go to school, small businesses and churches were closed, our economy tanked, and our freedoms were restricted,” he continued.
“If we had known the truth about the virus’s origins, we could have combated the virus in a more meaningful way at the outset of the pandemic.”
Fauci has consistently downplayed the theory that COVID leaked from a lab.
He has stated that “most people hold by” the belief that the virus came from a bat in a Wuhan market rather than a lab.
More recently, however, Fauci has expressed that his “mind is completely open to any possibility” and said “it’s very important” to determine the origin of the virus.
Is Dr Anthony Fauci the puppet responsible for misleading most of the free world in regards to the origin of Corona Virus (especially the funding by US). The video speaks for itself.#TwitterFiles pic.twitter.com/jPXARrYa8j
— Sushant Chaturvedi (@ShawshankOne) December 13, 2022
RELATED: Jim Jordan: We’re ‘Definitely’ Investigating Fauci If Republicans Win Back The House
Turning Up the Heat
House Republicans turning up the heat on experts and the Biden administration to determine the origins of the COVID pandemic comes as a high profile figure in Twitter chief Elon Musk has called for the prosecution of Fauci.
Fauci and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, along with seven other administration officials, are being requested by Jordan, who is poised to chair the House Oversight Committee in January, to provide documents and communications.
Last week, Musk said, “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci.”
He also vowed to release internal files pertaining to Twitter’s censorship of COVID information in his commentary on Fauci.
Oh it is coming bigtime …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 11, 2022
News of an investigation into the origins of COVID also comes as a report by Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee suggests there are “indications” that the virus could be tied to China’s biological weapons research program.
“Based on our investigation involving a variety of public and non-public information, we conclude that there are indications that SARS-CoV-2 may have been tied to China’s biological weapons research program,” a summary of their report states.
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They add that the virus may have “spilled over to the human population during a lab-related incident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”
Starting next year, we will launch investigations into Covid origins.
Gain of function research should have NEVER taken place and should have NEVER been funded with American tax dollars.
Fauci lied and people died.
Fauci belongs in jail. https://t.co/SRRdRMJkG0
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene?? (@RepMTG) December 14, 2022
Jordan warned a year ago that should the GOP take control of the House an investigation would be initiated.
“Are you going to investigate Anthony Fauci should you take control and the majority of the House?” Fox News host Maria Bartiromo asked in an interview.
Jordan responded that “we are definitely going to do this.”
“We now know without a doubt that Dr. Fauci knew on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 that this thing [coronavirus] came from a lab,” he explained. “The top scientists in the country were saying it came from a lab.”
Will we finally get definitive proof of this as we head into year four since the outbreak began?
More importantly, will China be held accountable if it is determined to have generated from its bioweapons program? Will officials who may have covered up the facts be held responsible for their actions as well?
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