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As RedState reported, the US Department of Energy now claims that the theory that COVID leaked from the Chinese Wuhan Institute of Virology is the “most likely” explanation for its emergence.

For many, this revelation is hardly a shocker. Here is the story Dr. Anthony Fauci and the WHO tried to tell us for years: a new dangerous bat virus was discovered in central China in the city of Wuhan. And, oh, by the way, just coincidentally, there’s a biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) facility just a few miles away designed to study the world’s most dangerous pathogens—including, you guessed it, bat viruses. The conclusion?

The virus came from a wet market.

You can’t make this stuff up. That was the moment I truly came to believe the world had gone mad. Millions of people accepted this illogical explanation, and our leaders and the media shamed, censored, and canceled anyone who thought otherwise.

While many are advising forgiveness, few are offering apologies. This despite the vaccines not working as advertised, the effectiveness of masks doubted, and the devastating toll of lockdowns becoming more and more clear every day.

But not everyone is going to forgive and forget:

The American people deserve the full truth about #covid origins. No more whitewash. I will again introduce legislation to make the US government’s intelligence reports on covid open to the people https://t.co/6rKqPzPKO2

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) February 26, 2023

Missouri Republican Senator Eric Schmitt blames Fauci:

Fauci knew this immediately but dismissed it because of funding for the Wuhan lab.

We know what happened next — when Fauci spoke Big Tech censored.

I exposed this collusion as AG and I'll work to ensure this type of censorship never happens again. https://t.co/rNtRU7ASSn

— Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) February 26, 2023

Earlier this month, House Oversight committee Republicans announced the launching of an investigation into the origins of COVID and whether U.S. funds were sent to the Wuhan Lab. Their response to the Energy Department report:

More evidence continues to mount that COVID came from the Wuhan lab.

We’ve uncovered emails showing Dr. Fauci was warned that the virus looked man-made & came from a lab, but he may have acted to cover it up.

Why?

We need answers & accountability. https://t.co/uw0iOhrqcs

— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) February 26, 2023

Chairman James Comer (R-KY) previously explained his efforts on the Committee’s webpage:

The relationship between the NIH, the WIV, and EcoHealth raises serious questions about use of taxpayer dollars for gain-of-function research and when U.S. health officials became aware of the WIV’s role in the COVID-19 pandemic. The public health community—including the NIH—and the American people deserve the truth. The truth will enable American public health officials to prevent and minimize the effects of future global pandemics.

Comer is looking remarkably prescient now as this new Energy Department report rocks the nation. Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) also weighed in, tweeting, “So the government caught up to what Real America knew all along.”

As my colleague Bonchie reported, Senator Ted Cruz got the last laugh on Washinton Post “fact-checker” Glenn Kessler, who in 2020 superciliously tried to shame Cruz by tweeting, “We deal in facts, and viewers can judge for themselves.” Yes, Glenn, you deal in facts—they just happen to be incorrect.

Attorney and George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley (not a Republican) wrote an excellent piece in the NY Post Sunday, reminding us of just how out-of-control our government and media became during the dark days of the pandemic:

However, for my part, the most alarming aspect [of the government response] was the censorship, not the science.

There will continue to be a debate over the origins of COVID-19, but now there will be a debate.

For years, the media and government allied to treat anyone raising a lab theory as one of three possibilities: conspiracy theorist or racists or racist conspiracy theorists.

He goes on to list many examples of cancellation and censorship, concluding:

Censorship does not, as President Biden claims, save lives.

It is more likely to cost lives by protecting approved views from challenge. It does not foster the truth any more than it fosters free speech. Whatever the origin of COVID-19 may be in China, the origins of our censorship scandal is closer to home.

Hear, hear, Professor Turley. As Bonchie wrote in his piece, “never forget.”