In the wake of revelations the U.S. Energy Department now believes the COVID-19 pandemic likely originated from an accidental lab leak in China, Republicans are calling for investigations and accountably. One presidential candidate, health science entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, says China owes reparations and should be expelled from the World Trade Organization.

“Now we know what we should have known all along: COVID-19 began in a lab in China,” Ramaswamy, who launched his campaign last week, said in a statement. “As President I will extract reparations from the Communist Chinese Party, using every financial lever available to us.”

The Energy Department, which was previously undecided on the origin of the pandemic, now joins the FBI’s stance that the coronavirus likely spread due to a mishap at a Chinese laboratory, the Wall Street Journal first reported, citing a classified intelligence report recently provided to the White House and key members of Congress.

As Fox News noted:

The lab leak theory, or the theory that the virus came from a lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, was widely dismissed as a conspiracy theory and “misinformation” by Democrats, major news outlets, scientists and social media companies in the early stages of the pandemic.

Both the Washington Post and the New York Times had accused Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) of repeating a “fringe theory” when he mentioned the lab leak possibility back in February 2020. The Post issued a correction to one of its stories more than a year after calling the theory “debunked.”

“Re. China’s lab leak, being proven right doesn’t matter,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), tweeted. “What matters is holding the Chinese Communist Party accountable so this doesn’t happen again.”

A group of 43 national security experts recently signed a letter accusing the Times, Time magazine, Lancet, and Nature Medicine of stifling debate on the origins of the virus.

“4 [clown emojis] for Glenn,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) tweeted, taking aim at Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler, who previously reported, “It is virtually impossible for this virus jump from the lab” and attacked Cruz.

Ramaswamy said free speech is a “precondition for truth. It’s not enough to look back.”

“[A]s President I will deliver accountability to China for the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. If we do not deliver accountability, we can expect worse from the CCP in the future,” Ramaswamy said. He added he would impose sanctions on CCP officials and open criminal investigations into U.S. federal government officials who knowingly evaded the federal ban on Gain of Function research to fund it abroad, including in China.

In a two-day campaign trip in Iowa last week, Ramaswamy said he is campaigning in no small part on “decoupling” the U.S. economy from its dependency position with China.

“The elites and academics owe everyone who had legitimate questions and concerns about the origins of COVID an apology,” Rep Ken Buck (R-CO-04) tweeted. “The American people deserve to see all the information concerning the Chinese lab leak and the origins of COVID. This won’t be forgotten.”

“Americans knew this from Day One,” tweeted Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05). “Unfortunately, Big Tech and Big Government silenced them.”

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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.

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