Clermont Times

The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic recently reviewed classified U.S. Department of State (State Department) documents that suggest COVID-19 originated from a lab-related accident in Wuhan, China. The documents also convey that the Chinese Communist Party tried to cover up the lab leak and that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) maintains a relationship with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) is requesting the State Department rapidly declassify this information and share the truth about the origins of COVID-19 with the American people.

"These documents were previously released in an unclassified and highly redacted Freedom of Information Act production, first obtained and reported on by U.S. Right to Know — a nonprofit working to expose government failures that threaten public health."

The redacted documents showed numerous, highly suggestive subject lines including:

- “Initial Outbreak Could Have Been Contained in China if Beijing Had Not Covered it Up”

- “Xi Lied to Obfuscate His Role in the Cover-Up”

- “PLA Contractor Involved in the Construction of the Wuhan Institute of Virology”

- “PLA Presence at WIV Continued After Construction Completed”

- “Official Chinese Websites Show Robust Cooperation between WIV and PLA”

- “Cyber Evidence of PLA Shadow Labs at WIV and Bioengineering University”

As mounting evidence continues to point to a lab-related accident in Wuhan, China as the likely origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, safely removing these superfluous redactions is a step towards transparency and accountability.

“We write to you today to request that you immediately take steps to declassify this information such that the American people have a more complete picture of the government’s evidence regarding the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic,” wrote Chairman Wenstrup.

View the highly redacted State Department documents here and here.

Read Chairman Wenstrup’s letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken here.