Coronavirus Lab-Leak Investigation: Democrats Uninterested

In the wake of a joint WHO-China report on the origins of COVID-19 that echoed Beijing’s line, congressional Republicans have pressed anew to investigate the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) — whose potential role in the origins of the pandemic was oddly dismissed by the March study. But although GOP lawmakers have encouraged their colleagues on the other side of the aisle to participate in the effort, Democrats have been reluctant to join.

The Chinese Communist Party has fought strenuously against efforts to get to the bottom of the matter, and the Biden administration has taken an ambivalent attitude toward whether the WHO should more closely investigate the WIV. So the crux of the congressional effort has been to gather evidence in possession of the U.S. government and the controversial EcoHealth Alliance nonprofit-research organization about the possibility that the virus first leaked from the Wuhan lab.

About the Author

Jimmy Quinn

Jimmy Quinn is the former national security correspondent for National Review.

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In the wake of a joint WHO-China report on the origins of COVID-19 that echoed Beijing’s line, congressional Republicans have pressed anew to investigate the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) — whose potential role in the origins of the pandemic was oddly dismissed by the March study. But although GOP lawmakers have encouraged their colleagues on the other side of the aisle to participate in the effort, Democrats have been reluctant to join.

The Chinese Communist Party has fought strenuously against efforts to get to the bottom of the matter, and the Biden administration has taken an ambivalent attitude toward whether the WHO should more closely investigate the WIV. So the crux of the congressional effort has been to gather evidence in possession of the U.S. government and the controversial EcoHealth Alliance nonprofit-research organization about the possibility that the virus first leaked from the Wuhan lab.