Republicans exploded after Energy Department reportedly said COVID-19 likely came from Chinese lab: ‘We need answers’

Congressional Republicans erupted on Twitter Sunday afternoon after the US Department of Energy reportedly assessed that the COVID-19 pandemic was likely the result of an accidental leak from a lab in China.

According to the Wall Street Journal, citing a classified intelligence report recently released by the White House and key members of Congress.

The lab leak theory, or the theory that the virus originated from a lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, has been widely dismissed by Democrats, major news outlets, academics, and social media as a conspiracy theory and “misinformation.” in the early stages of a pandemic.

Now Republicans are calling the Chinese Communist Party to account as more evidence emerges that it is to blame for the pandemic.

OTHER US AGENCY EVALUATES COVID-19 ORIGIN, POSSIBLY FROM CHINA ‘LABORATORY LEAK’: REPORT

“Re. lab leak. China, confirmation of its correctness is irrelevant,” Sen. Tom Cotton, D-Arkansas, tweeted. “It’s important to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable so this doesn’t happen again.”

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ak. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/File)

Both The Washington Post and The New York Times accused Cotton of repeating a “minor theory” when he mentioned the possibility of a lab leak back in February 2020. The Post published a correction to one of its articles more than a year after calling the theory “debunked”.

The Times came under fire last month after a group of 43 national security experts signed a letter accusing the Times, Time magazine, the Lancet and Nature Medicine of stifling debate about the origins of the virus.

LANCET CALLS FOR “OBJECTIVE, OPEN AND TRANSPARENT” DISCUSSIONS ON THE ORIGINS OF COVID-19

“Elites and scientists should apologize to anyone who had legitimate questions and concerns about the origins of COVID,” Rep. Ken Buck, of Colorado, tweeted. “The American people deserve to see all the information about the Chinese lab leak and the origin of COVID. It won’t be forgotten.”

“4 [clown emojis] for Glenn,” Ted Cruz of Texas tweeted, drawing criticism from Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler, who previously said “It’s almost impossible for this virus to jump out of a lab” and attacked Cruz.

“So the government has caught up with what Real America has known all along,” Rep. Jim Jordan, of Ohio, tweeted.

“Americans have known this since day one,” Rep. Andy Biggs, an Arizona Republican, tweeted. “Unfortunately, Big Tech and Big Government have silenced them.”

Senator Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, tweeted: “The American people deserve the full truth about the origins of #covid. No more bleaching. I will again introduce legislation to make US government intelligence reports on covid open to the public.”

NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERTS CONSIDER MEDIA AND SCIENTISTS FOR PREMATURELY CLOSING DISCUSSION ON THE ORIGINS OF COVID-19

“[Former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony] Fauci knew about it right away but dismissed it due to Wuhan lab funding,” tweeted Sen. Eric Schmitt, Missouri. I have exposed this collusion as AG and will work to ensure this type of censorship never happens again.”

A Republican Twitter account on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee wrote: “More evidence is emerging that COVID came from the Wuhan lab. We found emails showing that Dr. Fauci was warned that the virus looked like a man-made lab, but he may have acted to cover it up. Why? We need answers and accountability.”

“Big Tech has censored information indicating COVID originated from a lab leak,” GOP National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel tweeted. “Now Biden’s own energy department says that’s the most likely cause. We need accountability – both for the Chinese Communist Party and for big tech.”

The National Intelligence Council and four other agencies are assessing with “low confidence” that the COVID-19 pandemic was due to natural transmission from an infected animal, while the CIA and another unnamed agency are undecided. According to an updated report from the Department of Energy, there is consensus across all intelligence agencies that the pandemic was not the result of China’s bioweapons program.

According to the magazine, the opinion of the Department of Energy is important because it has significant scientific experience and oversees a network of US national laboratories, some of which conduct cutting-edge biological research. People who read the secret report told the magazine that the Department of Energy assessed its new judgment as “low certainty,” while the FBI assessed its same conclusion in 2021 that the COVID-19 pandemic was the result of an accidental leak from a lab. as “moderate confidence”. and adheres to this point of view.

A guard leads journalists away from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan/File)

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In a statement to Fox News Digital on Sunday, a Department of Energy spokesman said, “The Department of Energy continues to support the thorough, thorough and objective work of our intelligence professionals in investigating the origins of COVID-19 as directed by the President.”

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was asked about the magazine’s report during an appearance on CNN on Sunday: “There are different points of view in the intelligence community. Some elements in the intelligence community came to the conclusion on one side, some on the other. of them said they just didn’t have enough information to be sure,” Sullivan said.

Danielle Wallace of Fox News contributed to this report.