Khanna: Attacks on Lab Leak Theory by Officials Were ‘Wrong’ and Make Us More Vulnerable to Pandemics

On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) stated that the strong pushback on the lab leak theory from health authorities and the censorship of the theory was wrong and that this pushback and censorship makes America more vulnerable to future pandemics.

Host Jake Tapper asked, “When the lab leak theory was first proposed, there was some very aggressive pushback from health authorities. Why do you think — it does seem like it’s a credible possibility — who knows what the truth is — but why do you think there was such aggressive pushback?”

Khanna responded, “Jake, it was wrong. As you know, I’m a defender of the First Amendment, of free speech. And I think it was wrong to try to censor the folks who were arguing that it was an accidental leak from a lab. At the very least, we know it’s a plausible theory if the Department of Energy has put this out.”

Later, Tapper asked, “Do you have concerns that the politics around the origins of COVID complicate the ability of scientists to communicate openly, does this make us more vulnerable in a future pandemic if people can’t even offer a hypothesis without people jumping on them?”

Khanna answered, “It does. And this is why I think we need a very nuanced, thoughtful policy towards China. On the one hand, making sure we’re beefing up the defense in Taiwan to prevent a military invasion, making sure they don’t have surveillance of the United States, making sure we’re rebalancing the trade deficit, but, at the same time, engaging and trying to make some progress on public health, on transparency. Because, ultimately, the pandemic that took 7 million lives doesn’t know borders.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett