Top GOPer on China House Committee calls DOE report on COVID an 'I told you so' moment

HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TND) — Covid-19 likely originated from a laboratory leak in China, according to a new assessment by the Department of Energy. Some Republicans who were suggesting a lab leak was credible are saying the DOE's report shows they were right.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis, told Sinclair Broadcast Group recently the lab leak hypothesis has been credible for the last years, adding that there has been little evidence to confirm the natural origin theory, "and plenty to disconfirm it." The DOE argued in the intelligence report that it had "low confidence" the virus accidentally escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China.

The update was conducted in light of new intelligence, further study of academic research and in questioning outside government experts, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing a U.S. intelligence official.

Chinese officials, for their part, are pushing back against the assessment, pointing to joint research conducted in 2021 between China and the World Health Organization that determined a lab leak was unlikely.

The DOE says there is still intelligence left to uncover.

“The Department of Energy continues to support the thorough, careful, and objective work of our intelligence professionals in investigating the origins of COVID-19, as the President directed,” an agency spokesperson told CNN.

For right now, there is no roadmap pointing directly at Beijing, U.S. officials say.

"There is not a definitive answer that has emerged from the intelligence community on this question,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN’s Dana Bash Sunday, referring to the origin question. The intelligence community is divided, with some reaching the DOE's conclusion, while others go a different route, Sullivan added.

Whatever the consensus, Gallagher believes finding the source of the virus is critical. "Until we understand where this began, we're not going to be in a good position to prevent a future pandemic," said Gallagher, who's chairing the House committee on China.

The committee, in addition to taking a big picture look at China and the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) rise, will undergo a multi-year effort to pave the way for the U.S. to separate the U.S. and Chinese economies. Gallagher and others on the committee also intend on fleshing out China's threats to the Democratically controlled island of Taiwan, which China has long-laid claim.

While Gallagher oversees the committee targeting China, there are two other committees involved in investigating COVID. The House Energy and Commerce Committee began their first origins hearing this month.

There are questions about whether lawmakers on either committee will trample into each other's jurisdiction. But they will be used to inform the American public about the dangers China represent to the U.S., according to Gallagher.

"It's teasing out what the CCP coverup of the origins of COVID says about the threat we face from the Chinese Communist Party," he told Sinclair Broadcast Group. "There's going to be a little overlap," but the committee members will work together and stay focused on what's important.

As for investigating COVID's origins, Gallagher is among several Republican lawmakers calling for public hearings.

“We need to do extensive hearings. I hope our Democratic colleagues in the Congress can support that. I know the Republicans in the House are certainly supportive of that,” Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Some Democrats are warming to more aggressive investigations.

"The Chinese have mishandled COVID every step of the way, trying to sweep it under the rug," Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass, said on CNN this weekend, referring to attempts by Beijing to conceal data. "So, for it to come out that the whole thing came out because of mismanagement, I don't find that surprising at all."