Several bipartisan senators called on President Joe Biden Wednesday to pursue an investigation into the origins of COVID-19.
Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Republican Idaho Sen. Jim Risch, and Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez sent a letter to the president asking him to take three steps to uncover the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The three steps included: 1) Directing the intelligence community to continue investigating the origins of COVID-19 until there is a conclusion in which the United States has a “high degree of confidence.” 2) Working with allies and partners to use “all available resources and tools to pressure Beijing into permitting a transparent forensic investigation in the People’s Republic of China (PRC)” and 3) Completing a “thorough review of existing and prior U.S. government support or funding for research collaboration with the PRC related to gain-of-function, synthetic biology, biotechnology, or other research areas that pose dual-use concerns.”
Senator Rubio, @SenatorRisch, @SenatorMenendez, and Sen @MarkWarner sent a letter to @POTUS asking the administration to take three crucial steps to get to the bottom of the origins of the #COVID19 pandemic.
Read more 🔽https://t.co/CvWDXL0dhr
— Senator Rubio Press (@SenRubioPress) July 28, 2021
“The PRC’s refusal to cooperate with the World Health Organization (WHO) investigation into COVID-19 origins, the gag order it imposed on Chinese scientists and medical personnel, and its ongoing obfuscation and disinformation campaign regarding the pandemic have caused severe hardship worldwide,” the senators wrote. (RELATED: House Republicans: ‘Significant Circumstantial Evidence’ COVID-19 Originated From Wuhan Lab Leak)
“We expect that Congress will remain fully informed of and consulted on your efforts to reach definitive conclusions regarding the origins of this pandemic, as well as any concrete policy recommendations,” the senators concluded. “We stand ready to work with your administration in a bipartisan manner to seek answers to these important questions.”
President Biden is expected to release the findings of his 90-day inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 to the public in late August. White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked by Fox News’ Peter Doocey in May if the president would “punish China” if it turned out that COVID-19 originated from some “sort of a lab accident.”
“We’re not gonna go there just yet. We have to go through the 90-day review,” Jean-Pierre said. “Once we have the 90-day review, we’ll be able to reassess,” she responded.