Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- wuhan_institute_of_virology [2022/04/23 04:25]
pamela
+++ wuhan_institute_of_virology [2022/09/08 19:11] (current)
pamela [Congressional Investigation]
@@ Line 170: / Line 170: @@
 Lawyers say the memo’s broad language raises legal questions about UTMB’s record-keeping methods, though the university denies destroying any records as part of the agreement.((https://web.archive.org/web/20220421163550/https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Wuhan-lab-UTMB-17113462.php))
+==== Congressional Investigation ====
+HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
+REPORT MINORITY STAFF  ((https://web.archive.org/web/20210802113322/https://gop-foreignaffairs.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Copy-of-Add-a-little-bit-of-body-text-18.pdf))
+LEAD REPUBLICAN MICHAEL T. MCCAUL
+ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS {{ ::congress_wuhan_covid_investigation.png?400|}}
+Five hundred and four days ago, on March 16, 2020, Committee Minority Staff began its
+investigation into the origins of SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 global pandemic at the direction of
+Ranking Member Michael T. McCaul. The House Foreign Affairs Committee Minority Staff Final
+Report on The Origins of the COVID-19 Global Pandemic, Including the Roles of the Chinese
+Communist Party and the World Health Organization was published in late September 2020. At the
+time of its release, there were an estimated 30.8 million cases of COVID-19 around the world, and a
+death toll of approximately 958,000. Today, the cumulative count stands at more than 196.4 million
+cases and 4,194,061 dead.
+The House Foreign Affairs Committee Minority Staff has continued to investigate the origins of
+COVID-19, examining new information as it became available, including through expert testimony.
+We have done so because approximately 48 million of our population are under the age of 12 and
+without access to a vaccination, while others remain unvaccinated due to underlying medical
+conditions, leaving a large portion of American citizens at risk of infection. We prepared this
+addendum as reports increase regarding various strains around the globe, and as PRC authorities
+continue to withhold critical information about the early months of the pandemic.
+We have strongly
+urged our Majority colleagues to take this investigation seriously and conduct a full bipartisan
+investigation into the origins of COVID-19, and will continue to do so. President Biden has said he
+wants to discover how the pandemic began, and it is our duty to the American people to use all the
+tools in our arsenal in pursuit of that goal. As always, we stand ready to address this and other foreign
+policy challenges together and in a bipartisan manner. We must not let up on pressing General
+Secretary Xi and CCP authorities for answers.
+Here we share the result of these efforts in an addendum to our September 2020 Final Report. In
+particular, this update focuses on whether the virus may have leaked from a medical research
+laboratory in Wuhan, Hubei Province, PRC, and the efforts to conceal such a leak. The evidence used
+to inform this report is based upon open source information and includes published academic work,
+official PRC publications (both public and confidential), interviews, emails, and social media
+postings.
+Since the publication of the September 21, 2020 Final Report new questions have been raised
+pertaining to the origins of COVID-19. The PRC’s continued lack of transparency resulted in
+President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.’s May 26, 2021, order to the United States Intelligence Community to
+prepare a report in 90 days on the origins of COVID-19, “including whether it emerged from human
+contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident.” ((https://web.archive.org/web/20210802113322/https://gop-foreignaffairs.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Copy-of-Add-a-little-bit-of-body-text-18.pdf))
+==== Statement by President Joe Biden on the Investigation into the Origins of COVID-19 ====
+Statement by President Joe Biden on the Investigation into the Origins of COVID-19
+May 26, 2021	• Whitehouse Briefing Room
+{{ ::biden_wh_covid_19_investigation.png?400|}}
+Back in early 2020, when COVID-19 emerged, I called for the CDC to get access to China to learn about the virus so we could fight it more effectively. The failure to get our inspectors on the ground in those early months will always hamper any investigation into the origin of COVID-19.
+Nevertheless, shortly after I became President, in March, I had my National Security Advisor task the Intelligence Community to prepare a report on their most up-to-date analysis of the origins of COVID-19, including whether it emerged from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident. I received that report earlier this month, and asked for additional follow-up. As of today, the U.S. Intelligence Community has “coalesced around two likely scenarios” but has not reached a definitive conclusion on this question. Here is their current position: “while two elements in the IC leans toward the former scenario and one leans more toward the latter – each with low or moderate confidence – the majority of elements do not believe there is sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other.”
+I have now asked the Intelligence Community to redouble their efforts to collect and analyze information that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion, and to report back to me in 90 days. As part of that report, I have asked for areas of further inquiry that may be required, including specific questions for China. I have also asked that this effort include work by our National Labs and other agencies of our government to augment the Intelligence Community’s efforts. And I have asked the Intelligence Community to keep Congress fully apprised of its work.
+The United States will also keep working with like-minded partners around the world to press China to participate in a full, transparent, evidence-based international investigation and to provide access to all relevant data and evidence. ((https://web.archive.org/web/20210526164858/https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/05/26/statement-by-president-joe-biden-on-the-investigation-into-the-origins-of-covid-19/)).