Republicans Spike Football After Biden Administration Admits Coronavirus Likely Came from Lab Leak

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 14: Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) questions Dr. Anthony Fauci, director
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Hannah Knudsen

Republicans across the board are spiking the political football after President Joe Biden’s Department of Energy admitted that the coronavirus, originating in Wuhan, China, likely stemmed from a lab leak.

Several key Republican lawmakers, including Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Rand Paul (R-KY), have long questioned the true origins of the coronavirus, as officials, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, initially dismissed the lab leak theory. A May 2020 article from National Geographic, for example, reported that Fauci “says the best evidence shows the virus behind the pandemic was not made in a lab in China.”

“If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats and what’s out there now, [the scientific evidence] is very, very strongly leaning toward this could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated. … Everything about the stepwise evolution over time strongly indicates that [this virus] evolved in nature and then jumped species,” Fauci said at the time.

However, Biden’s Energy Department now states it is likely that the virus originated in a lab, saying so with “low confidence.”

According to the New York Times, “Officials would not disclose what the intelligence was,” prompting GOP lawmakers to demand the declassification of that intel.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) wrote on Twitter:

Jan. 31, 2020: Fauci learned the “virus looks engineered.”
Despite that, for two years, “fact checkers” and Fauci told us otherwise.
Now, even Joe Biden’s Department of Energy says #COVID19 most likely came from a lab.
Was anyone honest with us?”

“Classified documents leaked (they should be declassified!) showing scientists at DOE believe COVID leaked from Wuhan Lab,” Sen. Paul said:

“COVID 19 likely came from a Chinese lab. Cut US aid. Not a cent to Communist China,” 2024 Republican candidate Nikki Haley said:

“Remember when I asked Dr. Fauci how he knew that China didn’t lie to him and use American money for gain-of-function research in Wuhan?” Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) remarked. “Fauci told me, ‘you never know.'”

“Maybe we’re getting closer to knowing,” he added:

“The American people deserve the full truth about #covid origins. No more whitewash. I will again introduce legislation to make the US government’s intelligence reports on covid open to the people,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) said:

“For years, Anthony Fauci and Biden officials called this a conspiracy,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) noted, sharing the report:

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) shared the report as well, stating that it “was always obvious that COVID likely came from the lab in Wuhan”:

Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) also called for declassification.

“Nearly two years on from the Senate passing this bill to declassify everything about the Wuhan lab leak, and President Biden still has not given the American people the transparency we deserve,” he exclaimed, adding, “Time to declassify!”:

The report follows House Republicans investigating the origins of the pandemic — a move a majority of likely voters support. 

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