Graham: Biden Probe Into COVID Origins Won’t Work, Need to Sanction China to Ensure Cooperation

On Wednesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America Reports,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) argued that the intelligence community probe into the origins of COVID-19 ordered by President Joe Biden doesn’t have any chance of success unless China is pushed into cooperating, and to ensure China’s cooperation “We should put together a sanctions regime against China, put in place sanctions until they fully cooperate with the international community to find out the source of the virus.”

Co-host John Roberts asked, “So, the president announced just a short time ago that he’s giving the intelligence community, the I.C., 90 days to study this and report back to him. Without any measure of transparency from China, though, do they have any hope of succeeding?”

Graham said, “Not really. I think the only reason that Biden’s doing this, it’s becoming untenable not to look into whether or not the virus originated in a Chinese lab. We need to find out what happened so it never happens again. If the source of COVID-19 that turned the world upside-down is from a lab in China, we need to hold China accountable for allowing that to happen. So, Biden seems to be more intimidated by our enemies than President Trump. So, having the intelligence community look at this is not going to be successful until the world rallies around the idea that China needs to be more cooperative, and the only way the world will rally around the idea of pushing back against China is for the United States to lead.”

He added, “We should put together a sanctions regime against China, put in place sanctions until they fully cooperate with the international community to find out the source of the virus. I don’t think, without sanctions, without international pressure, they’re ever going to help. So you can look at this until you turn blue in the face. The only way China’s going to respond is when the world makes them respond. So, sanctions led by the United States, embraced by the world, I think would get us to where we need to go, and I intend to introduce those sanctions relatively soon.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett