When President Donald Trump told the world that COVID-19 might have emerged from a lab in Wuhan, China, last year, one common reaction was that of mocking disdain. Experts, many in the media, and Democrats rebuked Trump as having offered a conspiracy theory.
They say “time is a flat circle” for a reason. It appears the experts were wrong, and Trump was right.
This week, despite a report showing Chinese researchers fell ill at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology in Fall 2019, the Biden administration canceled a State Department investigation into the origins of COVID-19. Biden instead initiated a “90-day review” from the intelligence community and announced he would work with the World Health Organization and the Chinese government to learn the truth.
People should understand: President Joe Biden’s 90-day intelligence review of COVID-19’s origins, and worse, his reliance on China and the WHO, amount to a sham. What we’re witnessing here is a smoke screen designed to cover up the cancellation of what was a serious State Department inquiry. Instead, we’ve got a messaging ploy that the Biden administration, favorable to China, can better control.
If Biden is sincere in wanting the intelligence community to learn the truth, here is what should happen.
First, the intelligence community should immediately, today, be directed to brief Congress on what they know. Ninety days is a lengthy timeline with no value. It will not provide any serious additional insights or real intelligence. It will not make China suddenly cooperate with investigators. It will not leave Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the WHO any less beholden to the Communist Chinese Party. The intelligence community must send an immediate report and briefing to Congress based on the plethora of intelligence we have at this moment.
Second, Biden should publicly commit that zero taxpayer dollars will be sent to Chinese scientists. Not one dime should go to funding, directly or indirectly, a regime that has repeatedly lied about COVID-19, its origins, its effects, and more. This is a particular necessity following Dr. Anthony Fauci’s stunning admission this week before the Senate that he could not guarantee the Chinese have been honest about using American money for “gain-of-function” research.
Third, the Biden administration should immediately pull out of the WHO, as Trump did. At a minimum, Biden should begin a pressure campaign to replace Ghebreyesus. Our country should not work with an organization whose leadership has shown time and time again it will cover for China. Only with more effective leadership at the WHO, or a WHO forced to operate without the U.S., will they ever be inclined to hold the Chinese government accountable. Relying on the organization as it presently exists would be derelict.
Fourth, and finally, starting today, Biden should lead the entire international community in condemning China for its negligence and dishonesty about this virus. He has failed to do so thus far.
With these steps, we can begin to make right what China got wrong and deliver some of the answers people deserve. This pandemic has cost more than 3.5 million lives and destroyed many hundreds of millions of livelihoods across the globe.
The Biden administration must not pretend their 90-day review will produce results. It will not. The proposal is meaningless, toothless, and a politically face-saving farce. Americans will be much better served by an administration that immediately holds China accountable for its actions and a full, transparent investigation on the decisions Beijing and the WHO made in 2019 and 2020. The country deserves nothing less.
Mark Meadows is former White House chief of staff to President Donald Trump and a former congressman for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District.
Ben Williamson is a former White House senior communications adviser and longtime Meadows aide.
