(The Center Square) – The FBI has confirmed initial reports that the Biden administration is now saying the most likely source of COVID-19 is the virology lab in Wuhan, China.
The news comes after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Energy gave classified briefings to key lawmakers and the White House saying the most likely origin of the virus was the lab in China.
“[FBI] Director Wray confirmed that the Bureau has assessed that the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic likely originated from a lab incident in Wuhan, China,” the agency said in a statement.
House Republicans have vowed to investigate the origins of COVID-19 and whether American taxpayer dollars may have played a role since the lab has received federal funding.
Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, and House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said they are widening their investigation into the matter.
“Uncovering the truth about the origins of COVID-19 is vital to U.S. national security, critical to the prevention of future pandemics, and will bring some semblance of closure to the families of those who lost loved ones during the pandemic,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the Biden administration, requesting documents, communications, records and more.
The Biden administration’s admission comes after Republicans were roundly mocked by other lawmakers and the media during the pandemic for making the same assertion, as The Center Square previously reported.
In 2020, the Associated Press called the idea a “myth.” The same year, The New York Times called it a “conspiracy theory,” and The Washington Post called it a “fringe theory.”
In 2021, social media companies like Facebook were taking down posts that claimed COVID-19 was man-made.
“FBI Director Wray confirmed on national TV that the FBI has thought COVID came from the Wuhan lab for a long time,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La. “Republicans were right all along. But got called conspiracy theorists. Will the media and Big Tech be apologizing to us?”
Republican lawmakers blasted those tech companies and the media for “covering up” for China.
“The media originally labeled anyone who questioned China’s official COVID narrative as xenophobic, a conspiracy theorist, and more,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who was among the first to push the lab-leak theory. “They never did apologize for covering up for China. Worse, they’re still doing it.”
