The US Congress opened its hearing Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee to uncover the origin of the COVID-19 virus and heard Dr. Anthony Fauci covered up the source of the pandemic, in what The Daily Mail called a bombshell..The Mail reported top scientific advisers told Congress there's "mounting evidence" the worldwide pandemic came from the Wuhan, China, lab where such viruses were being studied..In recent weeks, both the US Department of Energy and the FBI acknowledged the likelihood of the virus coming from the lab..Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, scorched Fauci for "trying to cover his backside" over the lab leak explanations, said The Mail..Robert Redfield, former president Donald Trump's CDC director, claimed Fauci ignored those types of concerns because he adopted "a single narrative," that the suggestion the virus migrated from animals to humans without intervention was problematic.."US tax dollars went to a lab in China, a lab that was not up to code, a lab that was doing gain of function research, and that's where this thing most definitely came from and Dr. Fauci could not have that news getting out," said Jordan..Former State Department official Jamie Metzl said China had an incentive to claim the virus came from an animal from which it could have migrated to people.."Given the Chinese government has every incentive to find an intermediary host, it's very significant that hasn't been found," said Metzl. "I think it's very telling after three years we haven't found it.".Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, pointed out there was no "smoking gun" for any source theory, said The Mail, adding Wenstrup pointed to the lack of safety measures at Wuhan, where Redfield confirmed the US was funding "gain-of-function" research..Committee members cited decisions by Fauci and NIH director Francis Collins to approve gain-of-function work in Wuhan, noting the two "got caught with their hand in the cookie jar." .After telling Fauci in early 2020 he did not think natural spillover was plausible, Redfield testified as CDC director he was shut out of high-level conversations..The committee is split along political lines, with Republicans demanding all government information about the origins of COVID be released, with the Democrats going on the attack, charging one witness, Nicholas Wade, the former editor of the New York Times science section and Nature and Science magazines, as being a racist..FOX News reported Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., the Democratic ranking member on the House Select Subcommittee accused Wade of harbouring racist views that would discredit the committee's work, citing a book written by Wade in 2014 that was "applauded by White supremacists.".Wade called Ruiz's remarks a 'distraction' and defended his reputation."I think I should briefly try to respond to the attempt by ranking member Ruiz to discredit my testimony by saying a number of untrue things about the book I wrote 10 years ago on the biology of race. This was a determinedly non-racist book," Wade said. "It has no scientific errors that I am aware of. It has no racist statements, and it stresses the theme of unity that we are all variations on the same human genome. My book was vigorously attacked by obscurantist academics who want everyone else to believe there's no biological basis to race. And my book was as welcome to them as pictures of the Earth from space are to flat-earthers.".At the conclusion of Ruiz's statement, subcommittee chairman Wenstrup reminded him Republicans announced their slate of witnesses last week, questioning why Ruiz waited until Wednesday morning to announce his objection. .The hearing continues in Washington DC this week.
