Press Releases

Washington, DC – Today, Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, released the following statement on President Biden’s directive to the Intelligence Community to report within 90 days on the origins of the coronavirus:

“Since last spring, the Committee has been undertaking a ‘deep dive’ to review the Intelligence Community's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its posture on global health threats. We have been particularly focused on intelligence collection and analysis about the emergence and spread of COVID-19 from China. We hope to finish our review in the coming months.

“As President Biden said today, and as Directors Haines and Burns testified before our Committee last month, the IC continues to investigate and study the two most likely scenarios for the virus's origin — animal to human transmission or lab accident — but has not reached a community consensus. This aligns with the Committee's understanding of the IC’s latest finished analysis on this particular question.

“Beijing's continued obstruction of a transparent, comprehensive examination of the relevant facts and data about the source of the coronavirus can only delay the vital work necessary to help the world better prepare itself before the next potential pandemic. Nonetheless, I am confident that the IC and other elements of our government will continue to pursue all possible leads and provide an updated, evidence-based finding in line with the President's 90-day requirement. It is critical that we allow the IC, and other scientific and medical experts, to objectively weigh and assess all available facts, and to avoid any premature or politically-motivated conclusions.”

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