RIGHT SPEAK: Scientists Downplayed COVID Lab Leak Theory for Fear of ‘s–tshow’ if China was Deemed Responsible for Releasing Virus: Panel; Rand Paul Pressing Jim Jordan to Push FBI for COVID Origin Info, and other C-Virus related stories

Scientists downplayed COVID lab leak theory for fear of ‘s–tshow’ if China was deemed responsible for releasing virus: panel

Scientists who wrote a paper dismissing the so-called “lab leak theory” of the origin of COVID-19 admitted they feared blaming China for accidentally releasing the virus, according to internal communications obtained by a House subcommittee.

A co-author of the March 2020 Nature Medicine article “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2” and other scientists who collaborated on the paper privately worried about the “s–tshow that would happen” if “China in particular” were deemed responsible for COVID escaping one of their research labs, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic majority revealed in an interim report Tuesday.

“Given the s–tshow that would happen if anyone serious accused the Chinese of even accidental release, my feeling is we should say that given there is no evidence of a specifically engineered virus, we cannot possibly distinguish between natural evolution and escape so we are content with ascribing it to natural process,” Dr. Andrew Rambaut, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Edinburgh, wrote in a Feb. 2, 2020, Slack message to co-authors Dr. Kristian Andersen, Dr. Edward Holmes and Dr. Robert Garry.

“Yup, I totally agree that that’s a very reasonable conclusion,” Andersen responded. “Although I hate when politics is injected into science — but its [sic] impossible not to, especially given the circumstances.”

Another scientist — who had joined the co-authors, then-National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci a day earlier on a conference call — also urged his colleagues to tamp down lab leak discussions that might imperil “science in China.”

“An accusation that nCoV-2019 might have been engineered and released into the environment by humans (accidental or intentional) would need to be supported by strong data, beyond reasonable doubt,” Dutch virologist Dr. Ron Fouchier wrote in a Feb. 2, 2020, email. “It is good that this possibility was discussed in detail with a team of experts. However, further debate about such accusations would unnecessarily distract top researchers from their active duties and do unnecessary harm to science in general and science in China in particular.” --->READ MORE HERE

Annabelle Gordon

Rand Paul pressing Jim Jordan to push FBI for COVID origin info:

pressed House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to push the FBI for information about the origin of COVID-19 ahead of the committee’s Wednesday hearing with FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Paul, who had previously requested meetings with the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate to discuss its investigation into the origins of COVID-19, said he was writing to “notify” Jordan that FBI leadership was refusing to meet with Congress on the topic.

“The FBI’s refusal to meet with elected representatives to discuss their work on SARS-CoV-2 is unacceptable and cannot be tolerated,” he said in the letter Tuesday.

“FBI leadership appears to want to prevent Congress and the American people from learning additional information underlying its conclusion that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a lab incident in Wuhan,” Paul added.

“This is not all coincidental. The Biden Administration clearly has a policy against cooperation and has no interest in investigating and resolving the SARS-CoV-2 origins. That policy has clearly infected the FBI and, as a result, contributed to its politicization.”

Paul and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) initially asked the assistant director of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate for a meeting in April and followed up with Wray last month, after not receiving any response. The FBI director has not responded to their June letter, Paul said. --->READ MORE HERE