Amid growing concerns within the U.S. that the COVID-19 coronavirus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned on Wednesday that the risk of “something else leaking from the lab is very real.”
In his final days leading the State Department earlier this year, Pompeo released a fact sheet detailing possible connections between the outbreak of COVID-19 and the Wuhan virology lab. Appearing on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Wednesday, Pompeo said the risk posed by the WIV persists. “This lab is still open … this lab is still operational. I’ve seen no indications they increased their safety procedures at this laboratory. The risk that something like this could happen again is very real and we need to know if it came from this laboratory.”
Pompeo offered his remarks about the lab after Republican lawmakers held their own meeting on the origins of COVID-19. No Democrat lawmakers attended the hearing.
“Not only did SARS come here from China, but the Wuhan virus came here as well. Every stick of evidence suggests that it came from this laboratory, but if it’s not true so be it,” Pompeo said. “I regret that the Democrat Party has decided to just not focus on this. President Biden has said he’s got an investigation going on. I hope that’s serious. He stopped the one that we were doing at the State Department. I hope that they will take the need for this, that world leaders are watching to see whether America is prepared to confront the Chinese Communist Party for foisting this virus upon the world.”
Pompeo said if the Biden administration and Democrat lawmakers aren’t “Prepared to be bipartisan in pushing back against the threat from the Chinese Communist Party and the viruses that they’re inculcating in their laboratories, that the world will watch and make America less secure.”
Pompeo said he expects Chinese whistleblowers will come forward about the origins of COVID-19.
“I know the Chinese Communist Party has enormous control but we’ve seen this before but there will be folks there who it was morally troubling to. They watched the cover-up,” Pompeo said. “They watched doctors die under strange circumstances. They saw journalists disappear. They saw the things that will bother them deeply. I think the Chinese Communist Party won’t be able to contain this cover-up forever. It may take months, it could take years. I think we’ll get those answers, but, we have to be asking for them. We have to be actively working for it.”
Pompeo said the American people need to understand where COVID-19 came from and both Republicans and Democrats in Congress need to investigate.
