(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said Tuesday that the Biden administration tried to cover up China’s role in the COVID outbreak by calling the lab leak theory a conspiracy theory and instructing social media to silence those speaking in support of it.
As CNSNews.com previously reported, the Energy Department now believes that the likeliest theory is that COVID originated from a lab in Wuhan.
Despite this, NSC spokesman John Kirby said Monday that there is not a consensus in the federal government or among the intelligence community about exactly how COVID started.
Blackburn said despite Kirby’s assertion, the lab leak COVID origin theory was no surprise to those with “common sense.”
“This is the COVID cover-up is what this is, and you had the White House that came out trying to make certain that we didn't challenge China on this and China went to the W.H.O. and the W.H.O. Instructed social media and those of us who said, what about the lab?” Blackburn told Fox News’ “The Faulkner Focus.”
“We're hearing from our diplomatic scientists, there were problems at the lab, and that was called conspiracy theory as we all know, but it has proven those of us right that were early on in saying let's look at the lab where this COVID -- where coronavirus research was being done, and we heard of the viral research, the gain-of-function research that was being done there,” she said.
“They didn't want to go that direction, but now we know that the White House has -- they're having to admit that there were issues. It could be from there. I thought it was so interesting John Kirby said there was not intelligence consensus on this, but there is and has been common sense consensus that the lab had to be at the center of this,” the senator said.
She said that the media tried to protect Biden and China, and she pointed to the World Health Organization, which worked with China to negotiate the language of the COVID report.
“What the media has tried to do is to protect the Biden white house and Biden incorporated and thereby protecting China. You have to look at the World Health Organization. They negotiated the language of the COVID report with the Chinese Communist Party,” Blackburn said.
“The Chinese Communist Party just gave the W.H.O. another million dollars, and then you have to look at the way the media has covered up for Biden incorporated and the CCP somewhat, and thank goodness, because of a spy balloon, people are now saying you know what? I think China is at fault. We don't want them buying our farmland. We don't want to have an enormous trade deficit with them,” the senator said.
“We are worried about TikTok. We want to know exactly what happened with COVID. We don't want them stealing our intellectual property. We do not want them infringing on our patents and copyrights. We don't want them cozying up with Russia and being a part of the axis of evil with Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Harris, people are very focused on this,” she said.
“Thank goodness the Department of Energy report was leaked, and we now know that those of us that were called conspiracy theorists or all of these other words were actually right on point and the media and the W.H.O., and the CCP have been caught red-handed, if you will, for trying to cover this up,” Blackburn added.