Democrats nail GOP obsession with COVID-19 lab leak theory: Nothing can excuse Trump's 'lethal recklessness'

Congressional Republicans are demanding hearings to investigate whether COVID-19 escaped from a lab in China, but Democrats are wary of those efforts as a smokescreen to cover Donald Trump's mishandling of the pandemic that's killed more than 600,000 Americans.

GOP lawmakers are accusing the Democratic majority of ignoring the issue, which President Joe Biden has asked the intelligence community to investigate, but Democrats mistrust Republicans' intentions -- no matter what evidence a probe might uncover about the pandemic's origins, reported Politico.

"It's really tough, because whatever is uncovered, it will be used in terrible ways," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). "You almost can't have a legitimate investigation."

The ranking Republicans on four House committees held their own self-styled hearings last week on the Wuhan lab leak theory, without any Democrats or Dr. Anthony Fauci in attendance, and Democrats see these efforts as political cover for the twice-impeached one-term president who still dominates the GOP.

"Regardless of how it started, no origin can excuse the lethal recklessness of Donald Trump's mismanagement of COVID-19 -- nothing," said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a member of the House's Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. "Presidents have a responsibility to protect public health regardless of the origin of a public health crisis."

GOP voters are more than twice as likely to believe COVID-19 originated in a lab, and Republican conference chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) slurred Democrats as "Chinese communist sympathizers" and House GOP whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) publicly accused Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) of covering for China -- but Democrats say they're not opposed to a balanced probe.

"I've been calling for us to look into this for months," Raskin said. "But it's obviously far less important than getting shots into arms and getting people tested and getting the truth out about the virus."