XPost: alt.tv.pol-incorrect, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.usa
XPost: sci.med.diseases

The Biden administration ended an inquiry into a possible connection
between the origins of the novel coronavirus and a lab in Wuhan, a CNN
report published Tuesday claims.

The State Department launched the previously undisclosed inquiry last
fall under President Donald Trump — but the effort was shut down this
spring because of “concerns about the quality of its work,” CNN
reported, citing three unnamed sources.

Allies of Mike Pompeo, Trump’s secretary of state, were looking into
the possibility that the coronavirus pandemic may have started in the
Wuhan Institute of Virology and not in nature, CNN reported.

But after the changeover in administrations, concerns were raised early
in 2021 about draft findings of the probe shared with Biden’s team, CNN
said.

The State Department confirmed to CNN that the inquiry had stopped but
said it is continuing to work with other agencies on “COVID origins
issues.”

Pompeo, now a Fox News contributor, told the network this week he
believed the virus originated in a lab and that the China’s government
was covering up.

“I am confident that we will find that the evidence that we have seen
to date is consistent with a lab leak and I’m convinced that’s what
we’ll see,” he said.

“If I am wrong, I hope the Chinese Communist Party will come forward
and make a fool of me.”

The possibility that the pandemic started because of a laboratory
accident has gained renewed interest after a Wall Street Journal report
that said three workers at the Wuhan lab were hospitalized in November
2019 prior to the first reported cases of COVID-19.

Their symptoms were consistent with the virus but may have been due to
other illnesses, according to analyses.

Dr. Anthony Fauci has also said he isn’t convinced COVID-19 developed naturally.

“I think we should continue to investigate what went on in China until
we continue to find out to the best of our ability what happened,” said
Fauci, Biden’s chief medical adviser.

The State Department’s inquiry grew “contentious” last year as some
questioned whether the investigation was part of a Trump administration
effort to blame China for the outbreak, CNN said, citing sources.

CNN quoted one former State Department official as calling the work
“suspicious as hell” and saying those leading the probe cut out
technical experts.

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Trump won.

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