UPDATE: Biden Still Refuses To Reopen COVID-19 Investigation After Fauci Emails; ACLJ Files FOIA Lawsuit Demanding All Records, Including Funding for Wuhan Institute

As more signs continue to appear that would seemingly point to the COVID-19 virus beginning in a laboratory in China as opposed to a wet market, President Biden seems intent on burying the investigation into its origins.

On behalf of the American people, the ACLJ just filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request demanding to know why.

We previously reported that when ACLJ Senior Counsel for Global Affairs Mike Pompeo was Secretary of State, he led an official federal investigation into the origin of the COVID-19 virus. However, once in office, the Biden Administration swiftly shut down that investigation after they were briefed on the State Department’s draft findings in February and March of this year. The Biden team’s public justification was that questions were raised about the legitimacy of the investigation’s findings and whether it was an ineffective use of resources.

In other words, the Biden Administration did not like what the State Department found. What a surprise, given that Joe Biden was also given to defending China and downplaying the threat it represents to America during his presidential campaign.

And remember how the Left criticized President Trump and smeared anyone else who dared to even ask if the virus may have come from a lab in Wuhan, China? Well, now we’re starting to see an about-face from some of the same voices that attacked President Trump.

Most notably, Dr. Anthony Fauci originally stated he felt most confident the COVID-19 virus was the result of animal-human interaction. In other words, it came from someone eating a bat. Fauci even expressed his belief that China’s so-called wet markets, where exotic animals are sold as food sources without regulation, should be shut down. Early on in the pandemic, Dr. Fauci stated rather matter-of-factly that COVID-19 “could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated” in a laboratory.

But now he seems to be walking back his previous stance. Especially after his emails were released to the public. In fact, now he’s saying that yes, “it could have been a lab leak.”

In a very recent interview with CNN, Fauci actually said, “I am not convinced” that Covid-19 developed naturally.

We will be the first to acknowledge that science evolves as new data becomes available. It makes sense that opinions would change, as would protocols. But one year ago, Dr. Fauci – who we were told repeatedly to listen to and trust – seemed unwilling to even consider the Wuhan lab theory. And the radical Left savaged anyone who put it out there, almost as though someone or some group wanted the theory buried before it got legs.

Now we know from his emails, that Dr. Fauci had been made aware of very strong scientific evidence pointing to a lab leak as the underlying cause of the pandemic.

And yet despite new information, the Biden Administration is not reopening the investigation that was begun by Sec. Pompeo; instead, it is kicking the can down the road, asking for an intelligence community review in three months. So we ask again, why? Are they covering something up? Are they trying to protect China? If the answer is no, then reopen the investigation. The American people – and the entire world which has been savaged by this pandemic – deserve to know the truth.

This is especially true given the issue of some $600,000 that was earmarked by the National Institute of Health (NIH) to go to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. We’re now being told it may have been more than double that amount. Everything about this stinks.

That’s why we filed our FOIA request to the State Department, the NIH, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), of which Dr. Fauci is the Director, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to get to the bottom of what’s really going on with this investigation, or lack thereof.

As our FOIA states:

[T]his Request seeks records pertaining to communications, knowledge and efforts surrounding the breaking story that the Biden Administration shut down, froze, delayed, paused, or repurposed an investigation into the origins of COVID-19 initiated by the previous Administration; Anthony Fauci's admission to Congress of U.S. funds benefiting the Wuhan Institute of Virology; and ODNI knowledge of and actions in investigating the origin of COVID-19.

We’ve demanded, among other items, all records “regarding in any way the termination or closing of any investigation into the origins of COVID-19” as well as all records “referencing, connected to, or regarding in any way the origin of COVID-19.”

We’ve also asked for anything and everything “referencing, connected to, or regarding in any way Anthony Fauci, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and COVID-19 (including any shorthand, pseudonyms, or synonyms used for those terms).”

We will find out why the Biden Administration shut down the investigation, what if anything they aren’t telling the American people, and who knew about it. The Coronavirus pandemic has reportedly claimed nearly 4 million lives worldwide. It has drastically hurt economies, families, and our way of life. If this virus was created in a lab, regardless of why, the entire world deserves to know that; and those responsible for covering it up must be held accountable.

Enough is enough. President Biden needs to prove he cares more about the American people than he does the feelings of the Chinese government. Our FOIA may show whether or not he can.

UPDATE 6.15.2021: We just filed a lawsuit against ODNI over its refusal to provide us documents responsive to our FOIA request. We were able to quickly file this lawsuit because ODNI unilaterally and unlawfully closed our case in violation of the FOIA statute. This is key because it is ODNI that is part of the Intelligence Community which President Biden instructed to report back on its findings on the origins of COVID-19. Our lawsuit seeks those findings via FOIA records requests now, not in another two and a half months. We will keep you updated on the progress.