'Do you have the pangolin?' Rep. Scott Perry reams State Department for dismissing lab leak theory

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Scott Perry blasts State Department for dismissing COVID lab leak theory

Scott Perry blasts State Department for dismissing COVID lab leak theory

Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., laid into State Department officials on Tuesday for dismissing the theory that COVID-19 may have leaked from a research lab in the early days of the pandemic.

Perry questioned U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink during a Tuesday hearing with the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The hearing was convened to discuss how the U.S. could combat Chinese aggression across the globe. 

"Americans across the country were ridiculed and vilified for having a difference of opinion. So with all due respect sir, what facts do you have? Do you have the pangolin where the virus jumped from the pangolin to a human?" Perry asked. "Do you have it? What do you have? Do you have any facts whatsoever to support your claim that the virus occurred in the wet market as opposed to the Wuhan lab?"

"If you look at what elements of the intelligence community have said some have come down on the question that it looks like it was naturally occurring, some have come down on the other side of that, some have said we don't have enough evidence to judge," he responded. "Again, I will say in conclusion, the intelligence community does not have a definitive answer on the COVID origin question."

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Republicans have blasted experts for dismissing the COVID-19 lab leak theory. (REUTERS/Thomas Peter)

Rep. Scott Perry, R-Penn., pressed for answers on why the U.S. dismissed the lab leak theory. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, File)

The U.S. Department of Energy joined the FBI in finding that an accidental lab leak was the most likely source of the COVID-19 outbreak on Sunday, though it made the assessment with "low confidence."

In a statement to Fox News Digital on Sunday, a spokesperson for the Energy Department said, "The Department of Energy continues to support the thorough, careful, and objective work of our intelligence professionals in investigating the origins of COVID-19, as the President directed."

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National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was asked about the Journal’s report during an appearance on CNN Sunday. "There is a variety of views in the intelligence community. Some elements in the intelligence community have reached conclusions on one side, some on the other. A number of them have said they just don’t have enough information to be sure," Sullivan said.

President Biden's administration says no consensus has been reached on the origins of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

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The Sunday appearance triggered a slew of frustrated responses from Republicans, whose questions about the origins of COVID-19 and the lab leak theory were long dismissed as conspiracies.