The American people may finally have a chance to see what the government knew about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic — which killed more than 1.1 million people in the U.S. and millions more worldwide — after President Biden legislated signed directing the federal government to release relevant intelligence reports.
What comes next, according to Senator Josh Hawley, is to hold federal bureaucrats accountable.
“Today President Biden finally signed my bill to release what the government knows about the origins of Covid. Let the people see for themselves!” Hawley, R-Mo., wrote on Twitter.
He added: “Massive win for transparency. Now time for accountability.”
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President Biden speaks at a Nowruz celebration in the East Room of the White House, Monday, March 20, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The Republican is one of many voices calling on Congress to share what information the federal government knew in late 2019, early 2020, when the coronavirus began to rapidly spread across the United States.
The newly signed COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023 aims to do just that, allowing the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to release information related to China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, where many experts believe the pandemic originated.
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Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in Washington on Tuesday, February 28, 2023. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
President Biden signed the legislation Monday, saying his administration would share “as much” as possible without compromising national security.
“My administration will continue to review all classified information related to the origin of COVID-19, including possible links to the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” Biden said in a statement. “In implementing this legislation, my government will declassify and share as much of that information as possible, consistent with my constitutional authority to protect against the disclosure of information that would harm national security.”
FILE – An image of the P4 lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology after a visit by the World Health Organization team in Wuhan in China’s Hubei province on February 3, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
FILE – This 2020 electron microscope image, courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, which cause COVID-19. (Hannah A. Bullock, Azaibi Tamin/CDC via AP)
The new legislation and any subsequent action by Hawley or others comes more than three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Rep. Mike Gallagher, also the chairman of the newly formed House Select Committee on China, noted that much information about its origins is still not publicly known.
“It’s been three years since COVID-19 turned our lives upside down, and we’re still asking fundamental questions about the origins of this virus. That’s unacceptable,” he previously told Fox News Digital.
Security personnel gather at the entrance of the Wuhan Institute of Virology during a visit by the World Health Organization team in Wuhan, China, Feb. 3, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
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Gallagher added: “The question of how this pandemic started is the most important question in the world, and we should not continue to waste precious time waiting for the Chinese Communist Party to suddenly cooperate with US officials and open access to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. “
Louis Casiano of Fox News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.