Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) expressed her concern during a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus hearing on Tuesday about why two leading scientists, Kristian Andersen and Robert Garry, had seemingly changed their minds about the origins of the virus.
The two had initially expressed the belief that the virus was produced in a laboratory, writing in a paper a few weeks later that it had come from animals via contact with humans, a perspective they were now presenting as fact.
Malliotakis, in her questioning, asked Drs. Anderson and Gary “Are you both conspiracy theorists?” referencing their seeming flip-flop on their original viewpoint. She added “you just accused everyone who believed there was a lab leak of being a conspiracy theorist.” She further asked what had changed between the time they notified Dr. Anthony Fauci about their findings and the time they released their paper.
Dr. Garry stated that “there was some new data that came,” but this did not satisfy Republican members of the committee. Rep. Malliotakis noted that former Director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Dr. Robert Redfield had testified that it was not scientifically plausible that the virus went from bat to humans.
It is clear that the GOP does not believe the current explanation by Dr.’s Anderson and Garry for why they changed their stance on the virus’ lab origin. It is also clear that whether intentional or not, the two have placed themselves on the wrong side of history when it comes to their views on the virus and its origins. Going forward, it is essential that Rep.
.@RepMalliotakis questions why the "Proximal Origin" co-authors suspiciously abandoned their initial belief that COVID originated in a Chinese lab.
Within 3 days of speaking to Dr. Fauci, @K_G_Andersen shifted his support to a zoonotic origin.
Americans deserve to know why👇 pic.twitter.com/QAZwylO4f9
— Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (@COVIDSelect) July 11, 2023
Malliotakis and the rest of the GOP continue to demand answers from the scientific community in order to ensure the public’s safety and well-being.
Regardless of where you stand on the jab and the true origins of the virus, anyone with half a brain has to admit that it’s in everyone’s best interest to get to the bottom of what really happened.