On Wednesday, a group of Republican senators sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking if the Department of Justice (DOJ) would pursue any legal action against China for its role in creating the COVID-19 pandemic.
The letter began by pointing to a recent report that revealed that the U.S. Department of Energy had concluded that a lab leak in Wuhan, China, was the most likely cause of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“More than 1.1 million Americans have died due to COVID-19 in the past three years, and untold millions more have suffered, and continue to suffer, physical and economic harms related to the pandemic,” the letter began. “Last month, newly uncovered intelligence information led the U.S. Department of Energy to conclude that COVID-19 emerged from a lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, joining the assessment previously made by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the pandemic’s origins.”
“We write to ask what legal action you have pursued or plan to pursue as U.S. Attorney General against the Chinese Communist Party officials responsible for that lab leak and/or its cover up to vindicate the interests of the millions of Americans who have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic?” the letter continued. “Your tenure as U.S. Attorney General has, regrettably, been marked by an apparent preference to wield the substantial resources of the federal law enforcement apparatus at your disposal for nakedly partisan endeavors rather than engaging in meaningful pursuits to benefit our country as a whole… Rather than use your position to pursue the politics and partisan policies of the far-left, we suggest you fulfill your duty as the chief law enforcement officer of the Federal Government to advance the interests of the United States and hold accountable the Chinese Communist Party and international organizations responsible for their role in the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“To the extent you find a legal impediment to holding the Chinese Communist Party officials accountable under your agency’s existing statutory authorities, we encourage you to specifically identify such limitations in federal law in your response to this letter,” the letter concluded. “We wholeheartedly welcome the opportunity to draft appropriate legislation to remove those barriers to pursuing justice for the millions of Americans harmed by the misconduct of the Chinese Communist Party.”
