US needs to hold China accountable for Wuhan lab leak, says 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy

New Delhi:  After a classified intelligence report from the US Energy Department reportedly found COVID-19 came from a Chinese lab, 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said that the US needs to lead the way in holding China accountable for the mess. In an interview to Fox News on Sunday, he said, “This is out of a dystopian science fiction novel. The very research that was conducted to supposedly prevent a global pandemic actually created one. I think there are two prongs of accountability here. What is accountability for China and for the CCP, which tried to sweep this under the rug and this will not go lightly. The US needs to lead the way in holding China accountable." However, he said the US only has the moral standing to hold China accountable if it holds those accountable here at home who purposefully evaded US constraints on gaining functional research to anyway go through the back door and do it abroad. “I think that accountability starts at home and then we have the foundation to deliver accountability to the Chinese Communist Party.  And it’s also a lesson in free speech and open debate having prevented us from getting answers sooner. If we don’t learn from our mistakes, we are just going to keep repeating them. That’s the lesson of today,” Ramaswamy added. Criminal prosecution When asked about criminal prosecution for those responsible, for those who pushed this research, including Anthony Fauci, former Chief Medical Advisor to the US president and Francis Collins, head of NIH, he said, " I think here the facts are going to depend on whether there was intentionality. But I think there are good reasons for there to be a criminal investigation open into this matter of whether these federal officials knowingly screwed a federal prohibition on a form of research that they wanted to conduct anyway." He said many of them were on the record, objecting to this restraint on federal research. “This reveals what’s going on in the United States. Today, the people we elect to run the government are not the ones who actually run the government. The real people who run the show make their own decisions anyway. And it appears what happened here is that they then privately use government money and public funds to be able to fund the same sort of research that the US banned here in the US to do it through the back door abroad. If that was done intentionally, I think that is grounds for criminal liability,” Ramaswamy said. He said that this is a global pandemic and millions of people have died. If there is any occasion for really delivering accountability starting here at home, I think this is the example for it, he added. “And I also think we cannot go lightly with respect to China who has similarly lied about it for a very long time. I think accountability on both sides of the pacific is crucial,” Ramaswamy said.   Earlier in a Twitter post, Ramaswamy said, “Every American should remember: it was considered “racist” just 2 years ago to say Covid originated in a Chinese lab. Big Tech coordinated w/ the government to silence those who said it. If we don’t learn from our mistakes, we’ll keep repeating them: the culture of fear must end.”

Every American should remember: it was considered “racist” just 2 years ago to say Covid originated in a Chinese lab. Big Tech coordinated w/ the government to silence those who said it. If we don’t learn from our mistakes, we’ll keep repeating them: the culture of fear must end. https://t.co/ywN9FNrZER

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) February 26, 2023

What’s in the report The US Department of Energy say that the coronavirus pandemic likely arose from a Chinese laboratory leak, although the White House maintained Sunday that American intelligence remained divided on the issue. The determination — noted in a classified report by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines’s office, The Wall Street Journal reported — marks a shift by the Energy department, which had previously said it was undecided on how the virus emerged. People who read the classified report were quoted in the Journal and The New York Times as saying the department made its judgment with “low confidence,” highlighting how different agencies remain divided over the origins of Covid-19 and the pandemic that swept the globe in early 2020. The conclusion, reportedly the result of new intelligence, is nevertheless significant because the department oversees a network of national laboratories, including some that do advanced biological research. The department now joins the Federal Bureau of Investigation in believing that the pandemic, which has left nearly seven million people dead, was the result of a mishap in a Chinese laboratory. Four US intelligence agencies believe COVID-19 occurred through natural transmission, while two others remain undecided, the Journal reported. White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stressed a “variety of views” on the matter remain. “Right now, there is not a definitive answer that has emerged from the intelligence community on this question,” he told CNN Sunday. In mid-February, the World Health Organization pledged to do everything possible “until we get the answer” on COVID-19 origins, denying a report suggesting the agency had abandoned its investigation. The scientific community sees it as crucial to determine the origins of the pandemic in order to better fight or even prevent the next one. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.