Rep. Hageman to Newsmax: Blocking COVID Lab Leak Theory 'Made No Sense'

Many people recognized in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, that the coronavirus that caused it most likely came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, not from natural sources, but there was a "concerted effort by our government" to not discuss that theory, Rep. Harriet Hageman said on Newsmax on Friday.

"That's what all of the evidence pointed toward," the Wyoming Republican said on Newsmax's "National Report," adding that the efforts to block the lab leak theory "made no sense."

This past week, an Energy Department report concluded, but citing "low confidence," that the virus that sparked the pandemic that killed millions worldwide was leaked from the Chinese laboratory. FBI Director Christopher Wray agreed.

However, the White House said there is no intelligence community consensus on the report.

"As a practicing attorney, I will look for evidence and I look for documents and I look for witnesses and I follow where the evidence goes, but I don't typically from the very beginning say this never could have happened, it absolutely didn't happen, and don't ask any questions as to why we know that," said Hageman.

Hageman she said she wants to know what evidence the Department of Energy and the FBI have that leads them to publicly state that they believe the virus came from the Wuhan lab.

"I know both agencies are saying, 'Well, this is all secret and this is classified and we can't share it,' but what we need to get back to is that this is a government by and for the people, and we are the ones who who are in charge," said Hageman. "If they have evidence and information that this came from that lab, we're entitled to see it."

She also said she agrees with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who said earlier this week the Biden administration should release all classified information and evidence that the virus came from the Wuhan lab.

"If there's evidence that it came from the lab, we need to know what kind of research they were doing in that lab," Hageman said. "We need to know whether there are other pathogens and other [virulent] viruses that they are studying. We need to determine whether this was an accident or it was intentional, and we also need to understand what involvement Dr. [Anthony] Fauci, all of those organizations and agencies had."

Hageman on Friday also criticized the Biden administration, saying it is "failing at every single metric," including border security, the refusal to do an audit on where money for Ukraine is going, the refusal to hold China accountable for the pandemic, the theft of intellectual property, and the involvement in the fentanyl crisis.

"The last two years have been a real tragedy for this country and for the world, [from] a total and complete lack of leadership," said Hageman. "Whenever they do adopt a policy position, it's typically wrong."