Did the COVID-19 virus really come from a Wuhan, China, laboratory? Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) recently released a 328-page report suggesting as such after two years of research.
Titled "A Complex and Grave Situation," Sen. Rubio traced the origins of COVID-19 to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where it was accidentally released thanks to a lack of proper safety measures.
More egregiously, the Chinese government kept this information hidden. "As early as January 2020, Chinese scientists determined that the Wuhan wet market was likely not the origin of SARS-CoV-2," the executive summary of Sen. Rubio's report reads.
Despite this, the Chinese Center for Disease Control still maintains COVID came from the Wuhan wet market. At the same time, the government was already tightening laboratory safety and security measures.
While Rubio noted in his press release that the evidence is circumstantial, "This report reinforces the need to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable."
"I am grateful to the staff, fellows, and outside experts who worked to connect the dots. Their work helps fill in some critical blanks and has already contributed to other reports, hearings, and investigations. The implications are impossible to ignore: Beijing hid the truth. This report reinforces the need to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable," said Rubio.
In addition to the report, Rubio created a 10-minute video documentary detailing his findings, named "Origins."
While he did not suggest the lab leak was intentional, Rubio nonetheless stated the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) ambitions clouded their judgment.
"They want to become the world's dominant power in every field, and one of those is biomedicine. And to do that, they had to cut corners and had to make decisions about what they're going to prioritize: progress, or safety," Rubio said in the video.
Nonetheless, he noted the Chinese government would never admit its fault because the CCP "is very sensitive to its global image."
"The Chinese Communist Party is very sensitive to its global image. The idea that their experimentation led to the creation of a virus that has basically turned the world upside-down is something they'll never be able to admit. It could threaten their hold on power internally, but it would also most certainly change the world's perception towards them. So I believe there is no limit to what they are willing to do to make sure the full story is never known," Rubio continued.
