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Biden walks away from reporters after being asked if he will ‘hold China responsible’ for COVID, after official report said it likely came from a lab leak
- The president approached reporters as he was leaving the White House.
- Several reporters yelled questions, one about the origins of COVID
- Biden raised his hands and appeared ‘upset’, then walked away
President Joe Biden got a head start on his weekend Friday after he approached reporters at the White House, only to dismiss their questions about COVID and other matters and walk away.
Biden left the White House on Friday afternoon, preparing to end a week that featured meetings with Democrats and news that a cancerous lesion was removed from his chest.
He answered a quick question about Paul Whelan, the American detained in Russia, by saying “we’re working on it” after Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed that the US had put a “serious proposal” on the table for his release and raised it. directly with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
Biden then approached a group of reporters as if about to speak. Several of them yelled questions, as is customary, with one asking if he would hold China “accountable” for the origins of COVID-19.
President Joe Biden walked toward reporters on the South Lawn of the White House, then abruptly walked away without speaking to them as several yelled questions.
Then he made a face and shrugged. He turned and walked away toward Marine One, leaving the White House without another word.
The White House said this week that there was still no “consensus” within the administration on whether the virus formed in the natural environment or escaped from a Chinese research laboratory in Wuhan.
Biden also did not speak when asked a question about student loans while boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews.
He was accompanied on the trip by adviser Steve Ricchetti and Terry Wolff, a Middle East specialist at the National Security Council.
According to a White House pool reporter, Biden “raised both hands in a shrug, seem upsetand then he turned and walked away towards Marine One.
It was not clear if Biden was bothered by the cacophony of questions, something that occurs regularly, or something about the nature of the COVID question.
Biden also declined to answer a question when he boarded Air Force One on his way home to Wilmington on Friday.
The question arose days after an Energy Department report supported the theory that the coronavirus likely leaked from a Wuhan lab, though the analysis was done with “low confidence.”
It came days after an explosive report that Energy Department scientists had concluded an analysis with little confidence that the COVID-19 pandemic emerged from a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan.
On Wednesday, the Senate voted by unanimous consent on a bill requiring the administration to declassify all information about the origins of COVID-19 and about the Wuhan Institute of Virology. That bill was sponsored by Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Mike Braun (R-IN).
A bill by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisconsin), who chairs a new House Select Committee on China and sits on the House Intelligence panel, is expected to coincide with the Senate measure and be introduced soon. in the camera. He reintroduced the measure on Friday.
The Department of Energy reversed its position and concluded, based on new intelligence, that the Covid-19 virus most likely leaked from a Chinese research laboratory. In the photo, the Wuhan Institute of Virology in February 2021
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning criticized what she called the “politicization” of theories about the origins of COVID-19, following an analysis by the Department of Energy that pointed to the possibility of a leak from the laboratory of Wuhan.
That bill states that “there are reasons to believe that the COVID-19 5 pandemic may have originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”
It says that the ‘Director of National Intelligence should 8 declassify and make as much information as possible 9 available to the public.’
It establishes that 90 days after promulgation, the DNI ‘will declassify all information related to 23 possible links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of the coronavirus disease 25 2019 (COVID-19)’.
Declassification matters are normally handled by the executive branch. It was not immediately clear how the White House would respond.