Republican requesting data, notes, emails in intelligence report on COVID-19 origins

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the ranking member on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, is requesting data, notes and emails from the intelligence community’s report on the origins of COVID-19. 

The report from the intelligence community (IC) was released on Aug. 27 and said the origins of the coronavirus were inconclusive and the virus could have begun in a lab or jumped from animals to people. 

“Unfortunately, the Assessment on COVID-19 Origins … only served to provide more confusion providing the American public with a vague, two-page unclassified summary. This is an unacceptable response that gives the American people little confidence our country is prepared for the next pandemic,” Comer said in a letter, first obtained by Politico, to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.

“Therefore, to assist the Committee with its oversight, we request all raw intelligence reports, meeting notes, and emails relied upon by the IC to develop the Assessment,” he added.

Haines has until Sept. 29 to turn over the information, according to the letter.

In May, President Biden ordered a 90-day review by the intelligence community into the origins of the pandemic after some previously disregarded the lab leak theory as a conspiracy theory. 

The intelligence community report did state the virus was not made as a biological weapon and Chinese officials did not know about the virus until the first outbreak.