Media Contact 202-226-8467

Washington, D.C. – House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul released the following statement in response to the Department of Energy (DOE) assessment that concludes the COVID-19 pandemic was most likely caused by a lab leak in China. Their report reiterates the same finding in Chairman McCaul’s report from August 2021, which found a preponderance of the evidence proved the virus was leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. 

“A year and a half ago, after conducting an extensive investigation, I released a report concluding the preponderance of the evidence proved the coronavirus was leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology because of dangerously unsafe conditions at the lab, and that the release turned into the global COVID-19 pandemic because the Chinese Communist Party focused on covering up their mistake instead of warning the world. While I wish it had happened sooner, I’m pleased the Department of Energy has finally reached the same conclusion that I had already come to. I have requested a full and thorough briefing from the administration on this report and the evidence behind it. Now is the time for the entire Biden administration to join the Department of Energy, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the majority of Americans by publicly concluding what common sense told us at the start – the COVID-19 pandemic originated from a lab leak in Wuhan, China. It is critical the administration also begin to work immediately with our partners and allies around the world to both hold the CCP accountable and to put in place updated international regulations to ensure something like this cannot happen again.”

###