Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, on Sunday called it “likely” the coronavirus pandemic was triggered by a China virology lab accident, calling it the “worst coverup in human history” — and arguing the United States should “pull our supply chain out of the region.”
In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” McCaul blasted the Chinese Communist Party for withholding crucial data on the virus from the start.
“I do think it's more likely than not it emerged out of the lab,” McCaul said, adding: “Let me say this is the worst coverup in human history.”
“It was just declassified that three of the researchers were actually hospitalized in November of 2019 with flu-like symptoms consistent with COVID. That was suppressed by the Chinese Communist Party,” he said.
“Since that time they silenced and detained the doctors reporting a SARS-like virus which under international health regulation had to be reported within 24 hours. They went and destroyed lab samples, wouldn't admit it was human-to-human — and working with the [World Health Organization] failed to report to the world that we had a local epidemic that was now going into a global pandemic. So time and time again we're seeing this, this coverup.”
The punishment, he argued, should be economic.
“We need to pull our supply chain out of the region — that being medical supply, rare Earth mineral supply… advanced semiconductor chips which are the brains in everything from your iPhone to the F-35 [combat aircraft]”, he declared.” If we can pull these chains out of China it would hurt them economically and very punitive in nature.
McCaul also asserted that Afghans who helped U.S. troops should be protected, and evacuated, as American troops withdraw from Afghanistan.
“We need to keep our promises here,” he said. “We have a moral responsibility and obligation to protect them. Who are these people? You know, there are about 18,000 of them that have applied for special immigrant visas because they served with our Special Forces.”
According to McCaul, for America to leave them behind “only to be slaughtered by the Taliban which is looking more and more like what's going to happen here, would really be unconscionable.”
”I worry very much about the safety and security of our embassy itself,” he added. “I don't want to see another Saigon, go down like in Vietnam.”
“The women left behind we're already seeing what they're doing to them in schools, and how they're going to degrade women and little girls in Afghanistan,” he lamented.
“The president made this decision, but I don't think they were really prepared for the aftermath and what is necessary both from a human refugee standpoint and from a counterterrorism mission standpoint,” he said of President Joe Biden’s announcement the withdrawal would be completed by Sept. 11.
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Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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