Scientists involved in the investigation of the origins of COVID-19 feared a backlash and political turmoil if they were to blame China for the accidental release of the virus, according to internal communications revealed in a report from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. The report, released earlier this week by House Republicans, sheds light on the decision to downplay the “lab leak” theory of the virus’s origin, alleging that it was motivated by political considerations.
The messages, exchanged among scientists during the height of the pandemic, were released as part of the subcommittee’s investigation into the origins of the virus. The report argues that top scientists dismissed the lab leak theory due to concerns about its potential political impact. It further claims that these scientists’ messages were in coordination with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Bottom line, this was a political coverup, designed to appease China. Evidence indicates that the scientists who created this report were bribed and Fauci ensured that these conclusions, essentially disinformation, were spread far and wide in the scientific community.
One of the highlighted messages came from Dr. Andrew Rambaut, who wrote in a Slack message to fellow scientists Dr. Kristian Andersen, Dr. Edward Holmes, and Dr. Robert Garry, “Given the s— show that would happen if anyone serious accused the Chinese of even accidental release, my feeling is we should say that given there is no evidence of a specifically engineered virus, we cannot possibly distinguish between natural evolution and escape so we are content with ascribing it to natural process.”
The authors of the report, including Rambaut, Andersen, Holmes, and Garry, had previously published a paper titled “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2” in February 2020, which argued against the plausibility of the lab leak theory. House Republicans accuse Fauci of influencing the paper to downplay the lab leak hypothesis and discredit those who believed in it. Andersen has denied that a $8.9 million federal grant he received after authoring the paper was a quid pro quo for having completed the scientific study.
“Since Proximal Origin was published, it has been accessed 5.84 million times,” the House report concluded. “Further, it has garnered the third most attention of any paper of a similar age across all journals and the second most attention of any paper of a similar age in Nature Medicine
The report emphasizes the significant impact and influence of the paper, noting its high number of accesses and attention from the scientific community. It questions the paper’s conclusions, suggesting they were based on assumptions rather than sound scientific evidence.
The “lab leak” theory, initially dismissed as misinformation, gained credibility over time and is now considered the most likely scenario by several agencies within the Biden administration, including the FBI and Energy Department. However, Dr. Anthony Fauci
The House report includes additional comments from scientists, such as Dr. Ron Fouchier, who believed that debating the lab leak theory would distract researchers from their duties and harm science in general and in China specifically.
Initially dismissed as misinformation, the lab leak theory suggesting the Wuhan Institute of Virology as the source of COVID-19 gained traction within the Biden administration. FBI Director Christopher Wray and the Energy Department have since considered it the most likely explanation.
While Fauci maintained that the virus likely emerged from nature, internal communications from scientists suggest a cautious approach in assigning blame to China. The House report also reveals involvement by Fauci and Dr. Francis Collins, then-director of the NIH, in the drafting and promotion of the Proximal Origin paper, referring to them as the “Bethesda Boys.”
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/covid-scientists-accused-lab-leak-cover-up-blaming-china-spread