“Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace confronted former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over former President Trump’s response to concerns about a lab leak, while also putting Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the spot by asking him what President Joe Biden is prepared to do to obtain information from China on the origins of the coronavirus.
In Sunday’s press conference following the G7 summit, Biden called for transparency from China and stated that we need to know whether the virus originated from “a bat interfacing with animals in the environment” or “an experiment gone awry in a laboratory.” Trump was the one who originally posited the theory that the virus came from the Wuhan lab.
Wallace challenged Pompeo over what he claimed was a lack of hard evidence provided by the Trump administration that proves COVID-19 originated from a Chinese lab. He told Pompeo he had “almost a year” to prove the theory and didn’t.
Par for the course, the liberal Fox News host tried to pin the blame on Trump.
“There’s no question that the president pulled back from the WHO, the World Health Organization, but what did President Trump and his administration, including his secretary of state, do to press China harder to get the evidence on where the COVID-19 virus came from? Because we still don’t know,” Wallace said.
(Video Credit: Fox News)
“We have a really good idea what happened here,” Pompeo countered. “There is an enormous amount of evidence that there was a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. There’s a pile of evidence 100 feet high. I have high confidence that that’s the case.”
“We pressed the Chinese Communist Party really hard,” he continued. “We withdrew from the WHO, which had become politicized. This administration chose to get back into that. I don’t know what tools they think they’re going to use. But we were serious in this endeavor. We made it clear that there would be real consequences for the Chinese Communist Party.”
Pompeo also said they “got very close to being able to make a lay-down case for what actually happened,” adding that we “know enough now” and the “coverup continues” by the Chinese government.
“Do you think that the virus came from a lab leak from the Wuhan Institute?” Wallace asked.
“I do,” Pompeo stated.
Peaking with Blinken, Wallace was blunt concerning an intel review that was ordered by Biden on whether the virus emanated from the Wuhan lab or not: “What is the president prepared to do unilaterally — not through the WHO, which has already been stiffed by the Chinese — what is he prepared to do unilaterally to press China to provide, to share more evidence, more information, especially from the Wuhan lab?”
Blinken posited that they “need accountability” from China in order to determine exactly what took place when the virus emerged. “The WHO, you’re right, the first study that they put out was highly deficient,” he noted. “The leaders of the G7 have come together insisting that China cooperate with the so-called phase two study by the WHO to really get to the bottom of what happened.”
“We need to get to the bottom of what happened. We need accountability, but we also need to understand what happened, why it happened, how it happened, if we’re going to be able to put in place the necessary measures to prevent it from happening again, or at least be in a better place to mitigate the next pandemic if we can’t fully prevent one,” Blinken remarked.
“He ordered back in March that we try to determine for ourselves the origins of COVID-19,” Blinken commented concerning Biden’s intel order. “We came up with two plausible explanations: One is the so-called natural occurrence; … the other is a lab leak. but we couldn’t determine with any degree of certainty which one it was.”
High-ranking Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi, who is the head of Beijing’s Central Foreign Affairs Commission, reportedly told Blinken on Friday during a call that the Wuhan lab leak theory is an “absurd story,” according to Chinese state media.
Blinken also appeared on “Face the Nation” and was interviewed by John Dickerson where he reiterated the same talking points on Sunday that did not provide any concrete answers on what the president will do.
Biden issued a statement in May that noted the U.S. intelligence community has “coalesced around two likely scenarios” for the origins of the pandemic, “including whether it emerged from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident,” and asked for “additional follow-up.” He then requested that the intelligence community “redouble their efforts to collect and analyze information that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion, and to report back to me in 90 days.”
But no actual actions were listed that the U.S. would take after the results of the investigation are revealed.
“Would the president seek to punish China?” Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre.
“We’re not going to go there just yet,” Jean-Pierre declared. “We have to go through the 90-day review. And once we have the 90-day review, will we be able to reassess.”
Doocy didn’t let up on holding Biden accountable: “If another nation either was responsible or knew more than they were letting on … what would the president do?”
“I’m just not going to pre-judge. I’m not going to make a statement until … we know what happens after this 90-day review,” Jean-Pierre concluded.
Individuals on Twitter are not waiting for an answer from Biden or the WHO:
Let me get this straight- the WHO did a deficient investigation the first time- (more like a cover up) & so we are going to rely on them to conduct another investigation. The WHO is in bed w/the CCP. This makes about as much as sense as asking a bank robber to return the bank’s $
— Not a Snowflake (@NotaSnowfkake) June 13, 2021
My Dog even knows China did it
— Pat McGroin (@ChrisSaraceno) June 13, 2021
We all know it came from the Wuhan lab. Trump called it from day 1. Hussein obama and fauci funded the development of covid
— Dolphins/Yanks (@Dolphins4Life99) June 13, 2021
It’s ironic that it’s Biden’s Secretary of State that’s finally believing the Wuhan lab leak. Biden ought to be held accountable for funding the WHO with 400 million dollars of our tax payer money. Trump took that money away because he knew they were covering for China.
— TODD Jones (@TODDJon74925517) June 13, 2021
They did it purposwly and people expect them to admit it? SMH
— Steven (@stevehunts24736) June 13, 2021
Clearly you don’t understand the severity of what CHINA did, they killed millions of people. This is serious, we need to take action to hold China accountable.
— Fiesty Latina 🇺🇸 (@Irun26ZumbaGirl) June 13, 2021
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