AUSTIN, Texas — Editor's note: The above video is a recent VERIFY report related to the COVID-19 vaccine.
In an interview with CNN, Congressman Michael McCaul (TX-10), a top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, claimed that the origin of COVID-19 was the "worst cover-up" in human history.
"You know, I do think it's more likely than not it emerged out of the lab. Most likely accidentally," McCaul told CNN's Jake Tapper. "This is the worst cover-up in human history that we've seen, resulting in 3.5 million deaths, creating an economic devastation around the globe."
McCaul's comments on CNN come after President Joe Biden told the U.S. intelligence community to “redouble” its efforts to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to President Biden, there is insufficient evidence to conclude “whether it emerged from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident."
President Biden directed U.S. national laboratories to assist with the investigation and called on China to cooperate with international probes into the origins of the pandemic.
According to CNN, a U.S. intelligence report found several researchers at China's Wuhan Institute of Virology fell ill in November 2019 and had to be hospitalized.
McCaul claims this news was surpassed by the Chinese communist party.
"Since that time, in December, they silenced and detained the doctors who were reporting a SARS-like virus, which under international health regulations, had to be reported within 24 hours," McCaul said on CNN.
President Biden held out the possibility that a firm conclusion may never be known, given the Chinese government's refusal to fully cooperate with international investigations.
“The failure to get our inspectors on the ground in those early months will always hamper any investigation into the origin of COVID-19,” President Biden said.
Read the president's full statement on the investigation into the origins of COVID-19 here or below:
"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."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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