House Republicans are suggesting that COVID-19 could be traced back to a bioweapons program run by the Chinese government, it was reported on Wednesday.

In a damning report on the coronavirus pandemic’s origins, first reported by Fox News, GOP lawmakers stopped short of directly tying the disease to Beijing‘s weapons research.

They also issued a harsh rebuke of American intelligence agencies, whom they accused of misleading the public and ‘downplaying’ information when they suggested the virus likely had no bioweapon origins. 

But they don’t believe the outbreak was intentional, the report suggested. 

It claimed that the virus likely escaped Wuhan – where COVID was first detected –  after making human contact in a ‘lab-related incident.’

There have been several reports on the national and global scale trying to crack the origins of the virus which paralyzed the world and its economy. 

But only so much can be conclusively decoded with the limited cooperation that China is providing to the international community.

A declassified report by the U.S. intelligence community released in October 2021 failed to conclusively reach whether COVID-19 emerged in nature or was created in a lab, but suggested it was not related to biological weapons.

But Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee said their findings run ‘contrary’ to those in the earlier assessment. 

Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, which include ranking member Rep. Mike Turner (pictured) and GOP Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, tore into the US intelligence community in their scathing report

Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, which include ranking member Rep. Mike Turner (pictured) and GOP Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, tore into the US intelligence community in their scathing report

GOP Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik

GOP Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik

Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, which include ranking member Rep. Mike Turner (left) and GOP Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (right), tore into the US intelligence community in their scathing report

‘[B]ased on our investigation involving a variety of public and non-public information, we conclude that there are indications that SARS-CoV-2 may have been tied to China’s biological weapons research program and spilled over to the human population during a lab-related incident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology,’ their Wednesday paper reportedly states.

House Republicans accused the intelligence community of failing to be transparent in its report.

‘The Committee believes the [intelligence community] downplayed important information relating to the possible links between COVID-19 and China’s bioweapons research,’ the report stated. 

They claimed they were ignored when attempting to raise the relevant concerns. 

While it left the origins of COVID open, the October 2021 report said notions that the virus was a biological weapon were based on ‘scientifically invalid claims.’ 

The GOP’s scathing report accused intelligence agencies of misguiding the American public with its findings. 

It charges ‘serious shortcomings with both the classified and declassified versions’ of the intelligence community’s report.

The Republicans, led by ranking member Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio, indicated they would release more information backing their claim when Republicans control the House of Representatives next year.

Virologist Shi Zheng-li, left, works with her colleague in the P4 lab of Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017. GOP lawmakers said Wednesday they believe COVID came from a 'lab-related incident'

Virologist Shi Zheng-li, left, works with her colleague in the P4 lab of Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017. GOP lawmakers said Wednesday they believe COVID came from a 'lab-related incident'

Virologist Shi Zheng-li, left, works with her colleague in the P4 lab of Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017. GOP lawmakers said Wednesday they believe COVID came from a ‘lab-related incident’

‘The information is important to furthering the public’s understanding, and we will seek to declassify the classified version of our report in the next Congress to further the conversation,’ they stated.

But such future information likely won’t show China having willfully released the virus into the world, the Wednesday report suggested.

‘We have not seen any credible indication that the virus was intentionally, rather than accidentally, released,’ the report stated.

‘Nor do we claim the information we have found is a smoking gun that definitively resolves the question of the origins of COVID-19 beyond all doubt.’

Turner indicated to Fox News Digital earlier this week that he would be open to sending subpoenas forcing Biden administration witnesses to comply with investigations that include one on the origins of COVID-19.

‘These are areas where it’s indefensible that the administration is not answering, and we’ll be letting them know that absent their compliance, we will be following these up with subpoenas,’ the House Intel Republican said.

White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci, who is retiring at the end of this month, told Sunday shows on both CBS News and ABC News late last month that he strongly believed COVID did not come from a lab.

However he also promised to keen ‘an open mind’ about the pandemic’s origin.

‘It was a natural occurrence, yet [Chinese officials] were so secretive about it, that you might want to suspect about what they’re hiding,’ the scientist said.

‘So right now, what we would really like to know is all of the details of what went on with the original people who were infected. We keep a completely open mind as to what the origin is.’

He added, ‘We’ve got to investigate every possibility because this is too important not to do that.’ 

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