Republican Lawmakers Call on Joe Biden to Declassify Information Linking COVID-19 to Wuhan Lab

Republican lawmakers told President Biden on Monday to declassify the information behind the Energy Department’s conclusions.

It is unclear what information led energy officials to reach their conclusions, which were released with “low credibility”. According to The Wall Street Journal, officials updated their assessment based on new information, further research in academic literature, and consultations with experts outside the government.

Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul said: “Classified documents leaked (should be declassified!) indicate DOE scientists believe COVID leaked from Wuhan lab.” wrote.

Indiana Republican Senator Mike Brown pointed to legislation he sponsored to make all information related to the origin of the virus available to the American public.

“President Biden must declassify everything we know today,” he tweeted on Monday.

The new assessment adds to the conflicting assessments by the U.S. government. Several agencies have tried for years to identify the source of the virus.

The virus was initially attributed to wet markets in Wuhan, a city in central China where the virus was first detected in 2019, but in early 2020 it spread around the world, killing nearly 7 million people. Did.

Initially discredited as disinformation by the political left, the labourique theory gained credence later in the Trump administration, with some workers at a Wuhan lab contracting the flu before the virus exploded in the city. supported by evidence of hospitalization for illnesses such as

Paul and other conservatives accused Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institutes of Health’s Infectious Diseases Investigation, of downplaying the laborique theory and supporting the natural spread theory.

While the FBI had previously concluded with moderate confidence that a lab leak was responsible for the spread of the virus, according to a Biden-ordered review in 2021, the intelligence agency said the virus was natural. It is determined with low confidence that it originated from the route.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in CNN’s “State of the Union address” on Sunday that “the intelligence community has different views.” “Some elements of the intelligence agency have reached their conclusions on one side and some on the other. Many of them say they certainly don’t have enough information. .”

U.S. officials say it will be difficult to reach firm conclusions unless Beijing provides further assistance. The Communist government didn’t even suggest that the virus originated at Fort Detrick, Maryland.

For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 Resources page.