Sullivan seeks hearings on lab-leak COVID origin theory

Alaska U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan has called for extensive public hearings, following a report on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The department has told the House and Senate Intelligence committees that it has “low confidence” that the COVID-19 virus initially leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China. The lab-leak theory has drawn varying degrees of confidence from U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA and the FBI.

In a Sunday interview with Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sullivan said he hopes Democrats will support hearings into the Energy Department’s conclusions.

“I know the Republicans in the House are certainly supportive of that, but I think if that happens, we need to make sure every country in the world knows this,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said China’s full role in the pandemic, which scientists last year traced to a Wuhan animal market, needs to be exposed.   

“We just saw that with this Chinese spy balloon, it’s the nature of a Communist dictatorship to lie to their own people, to lie to the world,” he said. “But I think that we need to make sure every country knows that and then look at what the consequences could be, obviously millions of deaths, huge economic impacts.”

Sullivan also said in the NBC interview that he supports more aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia. He claimed the Biden administration has failed to give the country the necessary support it needs. 

“That has been a pattern with this administration from the beginning, where they have slow-rolled critical military weapons systems,” he said. “You know, it’s a long list, it’s (surface-to-air) Patriots, it’s HIMARS (rocket artillery), it’s tanks.” 

Sullivan said that list should include F-16 fighter jets. He also said Biden’s energy policies have hurt efforts to weaken Russia.   

Sullivan’s appearance followed another interview with Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, who said the administration has provided aid to Ukraine with an “unprecedented amount of speed.” He said that aid has allowed Ukrainians to take back half the territory Russia previously occupied during the war.