Braun: White House overdue to declassify lab leak intel as Blinken meets with Xi

Local Sources- Senator Mike Braun released the following statement on the White House’s failure to declassify all COVID origins and Wuhan lab leak intel within the 90 days required by the law President Biden signed in March. 

The White House passed the 90 day deadline as Secretary of State Blinken met with President Xi Jinping in China, whose regime has covered up the origins of the COVID pandemic. 

“The White House is now overdue to declassify their COVID lab leak intel, and there is no ‘Secretary of State is meeting with Xi Jinping’ exception in the law President Biden signed,” Senator Braun said. “We need to know the truth about how this pandemic started and China’s role in covering it up, and the White House must respect the text of the law passed unanimously in both chambers by the people’s representatives.”

Last week, Senators Braun and Hawley sent a letter to President Biden demanding he implement the COVID Origins Act of 2023, and declassify and release all information related to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Their COVID Origins Act of 2023 was signed into law by President Biden in March. The legislation requires the Biden administration to declassify intelligence related to any potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origins of the Covid pandemic within 90 days, which expired on Sunday. 

Last week, reporters Michael Shellenberger and Matt Taibbi reported the names of the three Wuhan Institute of Virology researchers who were the first to contract COVID, as sourced from multiple government officials.