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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., outlined what Republicans will do if they regain the majority in the House of Representatives, stressing that a bipartisan committee on China will be created and the origins of the coronavirus pandemic will be investigated.
Last month, Congressional Republicans filed a joint letter to President Biden demanding greater transparency and more active cooperation with investigations into the origins of the COVID-19. GOP officials say that sources in the federal government and military who have been tapped for information regarding the pandemic have failed to properly respond.
The letter, sent by Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., raises issues with a number of perceived gaps in public knowledge, including military research and intelligence.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans released the results of their probe into the possible origins of COVID-19 in August, with ranking member McCaul accusing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of engaging in the “greatest cover-up in human history.”
Many of the key points from the report focused on activities in and around Wuhan that appeared to indicate the virus may have been circulating in China as early as September 2019. This was well before the World Health Organization’s Country Office in the People’s Republic of China picked up a press statement on Dec. 31, 2019, by the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission from its website on cases of “viral pneumonia” in Wuhan.
“When we take the majority, we will create that committee on China and it will be a bipartisan committee, so you will have one American voice on how we can compete where China comes in and captures the critical minerals, when they come in and capture our medical supply and others,” McCarthy said during an exclusive interview on “Sunday Morning Futures.” He then added that the committee will investigate COVID’s origins.
McCarthy also said that the committee will investigate the Afghanistan military withdrawal.
The final month of America’s longest war was mired in controversy, eventually leading to a frantic evacuation effort from Kabul as the Taliban took over much of Afghanistan and closed in on its capital.
That chaos led to 13 American service members losing their lives during the evacuation effort after a bomb exploded near an airport checkpoint they were manning in Kabul.
A new report by Republicans on the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs details the failures of the Biden administration during the final days of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
DEMOCRATIC SENATOR FURIOUS ABOUT BIDEN ADMIN PACE OF AFGHANISTAN EVACUATIONS
“It is clear the senior leadership of the Biden Administration failed to effectively plan, coordinate, and execute an orderly withdrawal and evacuation” from Afghanistan, the report states. “The Biden Administration squandered precious time, ignored intelligence and recommendations from people on the ground, and refused bipartisan support to give them the resources to succeed. In the process, the botched withdrawal has tarnished America’s reputation and credibility.”
McCarthy stressed on Sunday that there are “a lot of places” that “we [Republicans] can hold them [Democrats] accountable.”
McCarthy also referenced allegations from Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer, saying his claims about Hunter Biden will be investigated by the committee and actions will be taken if necessary.
The president’s son reportedly had such a strong relationship with a Xi regime-linked Chinese businessman that he dubbed him the “Superchairman,” according to Schweizer, who is the author of the new book “Red Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win.”
Schweizer said in an interview that aired last month on “Life, Liberty & Levin” that Biden, 51, was able to earn large sums of money due in part to his well-connected, then-vice president father.
Citing his book, Schweizer said the Biden family benefited from Chinese figures to the tune of tens of millions of dollars in recent decades.
President Biden has repeatedly denied being involved in Hunter’s business affairs.
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McCarthy said on Sunday speaking with host Maria Bartiromo that Schweizer’s book “raises a lot of questions that need answered.”
Fox News’ Rich Edson, Charles Creitz, Timothy H.J. Nerozzi, Michael Lee and Brian Flood contributed to this report.
Talia Kaplan is a reporter for FoxNews.com. Follow her on Twitter @taliakaplan
