President Joe Biden announced this week that he will be declassifying intelligence related to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, just days after Congress unanimously passed legislation forcing the issue.
Biden signed Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) “COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023” into law on Monday, saying that he shares “Congress’s goal of releasing as much information as possible about the origin of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19).”
“We need to get to the bottom of COVID-19’s origins to help ensure we can better prevent future pandemics,” Biden said. “My Administration will continue to review all classified information relating to COVID–19’s origins, including potential links to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”
However, Biden added that he may have portions of the intelligence redacted for the purpose of protecting U.S. national security.
“In implementing this legislation, my Administration will declassify and share as much of that information as possible, consistent with my constitutional authority to protect against the disclosure of information that would harm national security,” Biden said.
Hawley responded on Twitter, “Today President Biden finally signed my bill to declassify what the government knows about Covid origins.”
“Let the people see for themselves!” he added. “Huge victory for transparency. Now time for accountability.”
Huge victory for transparency. Now time for accountability
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 20, 2023
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