A group of United States senators are demanding the Central Intelligence Agency turn over documents and information that could prove allegations by agency whistleblowers than an investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 virus was sabotaged to cover up its likely release from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rand Paul, M.D. (R-KY), are leading a letter to CIA Director William J. Burns, “following up on their prior request for information related to whistleblower allegations disclosed by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on the CIA's investigation into the origins of COVID-19,” Cruz's office report.
According to information released by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence:
A multi-decade, senior-level, current Agency officer has come forward to provide
information to the [Select Subcommittee and HPSCI] regarding the Agency's analysis into the origins of COVID-19. According to the whistleblower, the Agency assigned seven officers to a COVID Discovery Team (Team). The Team consisted of multi-disciplinary and experienced officers with significant scientific expertise. According to the whistleblower, at the end of its review, six of the seven members of the Team believed the intelligence and science were sufficient to make a low confidence assessment that COVID19 originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. The seventh member of the Team, who also happened to be the most senior, was the lone officer to believe COVID-19 originated through zoonosis.
In the letter, the senators wrote, “These allegations raise serious questions about the Agency's investigation of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in light of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence June 2023 unclassified report stating that CIA remained ‘unable to determine the precise origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. … The Agency's refusal to cooperate with requests for information by members of the Senate regarding whistleblower allegations is unacceptable. The CIA has an obligation to be responsive to congressional oversight requests by all members of the Senate regardless of what committees they are assigned to.”
“On September 12, 2023, Senators requested you provide additional documents and information related to the Agency's investigation of the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic to assist in evaluating the whistleblower's allegations. On September 27, 2023, the Senators received a response from the Office of Congressional Affairs indicating the CIA was engaging directly with the congressional intelligence committees on this matter. However, the Agency failed to provide any of the requested information or documentation,” the letter notes.
Senators are now asking for:
1. All documents and communications regarding the establishment of all iterations of the COVID Discovery Team(s);
2. All documents and communications between or among the members of all iterations of the COVID Discovery Team(s) regarding the origins of COVID-19;
3. All documents and communications between or among members of all iterations of the COVID Discovery Team(s) and other employees or contractors of the Agency regarding the origins of COVID-19;
4. All documents and communications between or among members of all iterations of the COVID Discovery Team(s) and employees or contractors of other federal government agencies, including but not limited to the U.S. Department of State, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (to include the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), and the U.S. Department of Energy regarding the origins of COVID-19; and
5. All documents and communications relating to any conclusions of the COVID Discovery Team(s) and subsequent revision of such conclusions.
Co-signers of the letter include Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).
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