Jerry Dunleavy of the Washington Examiner reports on a top priority for a leading U.S. House Republican.
Republicans say they are ready, if the GOP can win control of the House or Senate in November, to combine investigative forces to figure out why scientists abruptly reversed their positions on the COVID-19 lab leak theory.
An illuminating array of emails, disclosed by leading GOP investigators and serving as a roadmap for lines of inquiry, show scientists consulting with the U.S. government believed early in the pandemic COVID-19 originating from a lab in Wuhan, China, was possible or even likely, but Dr. Anthony Fauci worked behind the scenes to shut the hypothesis down. In particular, notes from a controversial Feb. 1, 2020, conference call show at least 11 scientists theorized about the virus’s origin, with many leaning toward the lab leak theory, but most of them soon came out in favor of the natural origin and some signed letters calling a lab leak a conspiracy theory.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) released a new video discussing what they call “the Fauci COVID Cover Up” and ways in which the GOP could turn up the heat should they emerge victorious in the midterm elections, including more authority to access powerful tools such as subpoenas. Jordan, who is expected to be chairman of the Judiciary Committee if Republicans take back the House, said part of his plan for understanding the origins of COVID-19 is to get information from the 11 virologists through sworn testimony, and then have Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Francis Collins, the now-former head of the National Institutes of Health, testify under oath.
“One of the things we’ve done is we’re putting those 11 virologists on notice,” Jordan said, adding, “Those are the first people you want to talk to.”