GOP rep. blames 'penguins' for ruining the Covid lab leak theory

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) suggested "penguins" were to blame for convincing some scientists that Covid-19 was created in nature.

At a House Oversight Committee hearing on Tuesday, Malliotakis asked two professors why scientists initially discounted a theory that the Covid-19 virus leaked from a lab.

"All of a sudden, you did a 180, and [said] it couldn't possibly come from a lab or maybe, but you're all saying that you know, this was by sure from nature," Malliotakis said. "What happened in those three days?"

Tulane University School of Medicine Professor Robert Garry explained that researchers were following the science.

"Where did that data come from?" Malliotakis pressed.

"The scientific literature, you know, the publication of the pangolin genomic sequence showed that there was a receptor binding domain," Garry said. "And it was a very important piece of data because it showed that a lot of the theories about, you know, the virus having been engineered or put together in a laboratory were not true because here was a virus in nature that had a receptor binding domain with exactly the same structure."

Malliotakis confused the research on pangolins, which resembles an anteater, with penguins.

"I just find it all interesting based on what my other colleague here, the chairman of the committee, said in reply to the issue of the penguins," she said.

In 2020, researchers found a portion of a pangolin's genomic sequence was a 99% match for Covid-19. Scientists speculated that pangolins may have been an intermediary host passing the virus to humans.

Malliotakis could have been referring to infections among the NHL's Penguins hockey team.

Watch the video below from the House Oversight Committee.