Congressional Republicans are not optimistic that President Biden’s push for answers on where COVID-19 came from will go anywhere.
Indiana Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN-03) told Fox News on Monday that he doesn’t think the White House or congressional Democrats are taking any investigations into the virus’ origin as seriously as they should.
“What are they going to do? Put Vice-President (Kamala) Harris in charge of this probe as well,” Banks mocked. “Based on the track record of that and other things that have come out of this administration, we shouldn’t hold our breath that they’ll do anything about holding those accountable for the origins of COVID-19 either.”
President Biden said last week that he wants a deeper dive into the origins of the virus by his administration after reports of three workers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology got sick with similar COVID-19 symptoms in late 2019.
Those reports are giving more credence to the notion that the virus may have leaked from the lab, a theory that had been dismissed by many healthcare experts over the last several months. It’s a theory that Banks has believed from the beginning of the pandemic.
“That’s the incredible thing about all of this. The evidence a year ago compared to today is not any different,” he said. “They (the White House) have no interest in holding China accountable for any of their negligence.”
Biden’s said the intensified investigation will hopefully take around 90-days. But China may be proving uncooperative as Chinese leaders announced Tuesday that the country wouldn’t participate in “phase two” of the WHO’s investigation into the origins of COVID-19.