A few weeks ago, we told you how there were concerns over a World Health Organization report floating a new theory that Covid-19 didn’t originate in Wuhan, China but was instead imported to the market on contaminated frozen food:
Whitewashing in progress? WHO investigating if Covid-19 was imported to China in frozen food https://t.co/IPUFNtefeg
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) February 9, 2021
Yeah, we didn’t buy it either. From former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb:
My op ed in @WSJ. The WHO's willingness to chase the implausible theory that the Wuhan outbreak originated from frozen fish makes the organization's effort to dispel other theories, like a lab leak, and isolate the true source of the pandemic less credible https://t.co/7GjOXa4jv6
— Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) February 21, 2021
But what’s interesting is that Jake Sullivan, the *current* National Security Advisor, also questioned China’s honesty, saying on “Face the Nation” this morning that China held back data for the WHO report:
National Security Adviser @jakejsullivan says the upcoming @WHO report on China lacks critical data held back by China about “the origins of the pandemic, in Wuhan, China.” @FaceTheNation
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) February 21, 2021
“. . . we do not believe that China has made available sufficient original data”:
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on the WHO: "They're about to come out with a report about the origins of the pandemic in Wuhan, China, that we have questions about because we do not believe that China has made available sufficient original data" https://t.co/x4IYHszAiD
— Evie Fordham (@eviefordham) February 21, 2021
As for the State Department report released in the final days of the Trump administration that said there were sick researchers at the Wuhan Institue of Virology *before* the outbreak, he dodged but, importantly, did not dispute the findings:
.@JakeSullivan46 won’t stand by or dispute the State Dept Jan 15 report on evidence of sick researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology months before the outbreak. He dodged the question repeatedly to @margbrennan on @FaceTheNation
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) February 21, 2021
Earlier in the broadcast, former Trump-administration Deputy National Security Advisor Matt Pottinger said that the evidence still points to a lab accident compared to a natural outbreak:
NEW: Matt Pottinger: "If you weigh the circumstantial evidence, the ledger on the side of an explanation that says this resulted from some kind of human error [Wuhan lab…], it far outweighs the side of the scale that says this was some natural outbreak."https://t.co/zXdANikrwx
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) February 21, 2021
We know they were experimenting on coronavirus when these researchers go sick, at least according to the State Department report:
Pottinger tells @margbrennan evidence exists that the Chinese military was doing coronavirus experiments on animals for years and that the researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology got sick in Autumn, 2019. @FaceTheNation
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) February 21, 2021
Pottinger made clear that he’s not talking about a man-made virus:
Pottinger also explains that when people repeat that the virus was not man made or genetically modified, that’s true but misses the point. The theory is that human error contributed to the outbreak (lab accident) not that the virus itself was man made. @FaceTheNation
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) February 21, 2021
Yes, we need a “real investigation” and, at the very least, the Biden administration isn’t buying the WHO report so that’s good news:
Seeking a real investigation, the former White House China director says he had evidence of:
1. "an outbreak of flu-like illness among researchers…in the Wuhan Institute of Virology" in fall 2019.
2. "a COVID-like disease" circulating then in China. https://t.co/dilbTkMvny pic.twitter.com/J3vWzHP0jd— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) February 21, 2021
Over to you, Joe. Time to make China “step up”:
Jake Sullivan appeared on CBS just after. He didn't rule in or rule out any Covid origin theories.
But he cast doubt on WHO's forthcoming Wuhan report, and said WHO and China need to "step up." https://t.co/3t7xWfgrj5
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) February 21, 2021
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