Republican Representatives on the House Intelligence Committee are making shocking accusations in a newly released report. On Wednesday night, the committee released a minority staff report alleging that indGOP Report: ‘COVID Origins May Have Been Tied’ to China’s Bioweapons Program
ications point to the COVID-19 virus having originated from China’s biological weapons research program and then “spilled over” to the general human population.
Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), a member of the committee, forcefully declared that “China has identified itself as an adversary to America.” He also noted that “We now have a report suggesting that China may be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and the economic destruction suffered by millions of more.”
The report warns that China’s efforts to cover up its potential role in the creation of the virus must be closely investigated. It further states that “if future evidence shows that the virus was either purposely released or negligently allowed to spread from a Chinese laboratory, it would constitute one of the greatest failures of the People’s Republic of China in modern history.”
The Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee are taking a serious stance on this issue. Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) declared that “It is essential that we get to the bottom of this and we are very much committed to doing that.” He also noted that “any effort by China to cover up or erase evidence of their involvement must be met with serious consequences.”
As the House Intelligence Committee continues to investigate the potential origins of the COVID-19 virus, there is still much that is unknown. What is certain, however, is that the Republican members of the committee are taking this issue seriously and are determined to get to the bottom of what may have happened.
Wednesday’s report released by House Republicans also alleges that its investigation “revealed serious shortcomings with both the classified and declassified versions of the Intelligence Community’s,” and states that the omissions “likely skewed the public’s understanding of key issues and deepened mistrust.”
“The Committee believes the IC downplayed important information relating to the possible links between COVID-19 and China’s bioweapons research based in part on input from outside experts,” the report states, adding that the intelligence community “refuses to be transparent with the Committee regarding which experts it relied on.”
I didn’t find the GOP’s report shocking—Why else would someone create a superbug? I’m glad to see it finally out and up for discussion and the GOP pushes to launch investigations.
Erica Carlin is an independent journalist, opinion writer and contributor to several news and opinion sources. She is based in Georgia.