NEWS: Democrats are starting to join GOP calls for a more robust inquiry into the Covid lab-leak theory. The talks center on Senate Intel & the Senate health committee, and could pit lawmakers against the Biden admin which wants a WHO probe.
For the 1st time, Dems are entertaining arguments from GOP China hawks that the WH needs to exert diplomatic pressure on China to release data from the Wuhan lab.
“Understanding the origin & whether there was any nefarious activity in China is all part of that,” @timkaine says.
Sen. Burr, who is uniquely situated atop the health & intel committees, tells me “it’s absolutely essential that we understand what we can about the origin — and the opinions on that are split about 50-50 right now.”
Of course, the U.S. might never be able to truly find out. And there are limits to what Congress can do. Lawmakers can’t get new intelligence or evidence from China, but they can seek documents & intelligence reports from the executive branch.
BIDEN on Covid origins: “I have now asked the Intelligence Community to redouble their efforts to collect and analyze information that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion, & to report back to me in 90 days.”
Says animal transfer & lab leak are the 2 working theories
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NEW—The Biden foreign policy doctrine is taking shape, but Democrats are still figuring out how to live with it
My look at how Dems are struggling to influence a POTUS guided by decades of experience & a belief that diplomacy should be conducted privately politico.com/news/2021/05/2…
Pressure from Dems on Israel + yesterday’s decision to waive sanctions on Nord Stream 2 have shown Democrats they have little sway over Biden on the world stage.
“President Biden will be his own secretary of state,” SFRC Chairman Menendez told me.
Sen. Chris Coons with some 🔥
“I strongly doubt that just a few sharply worded cable TV interviews or resolutions by junior members of the House are going to pressure the president of the United States.”
New this morning: Democrats embrace a tougher tack toward Israel as violence flares in the region. Biden now under pressure from the left to forcefully condemn Israeli settlements, looming evictions, & strikes like the one in Gaza this morning.
“We’re in this moment today because Hamas made a horrible mistake and fired rockets unprovoked into Israel. But we also got here because the Israeli government has effectively eliminated the prospect of a viable future Palestinian state,” Sen. @ChrisMurphyCT told me.
“it’s even more important for the United States to draw a harder line with the Israeli gov’t and demand that these settlements and these evictions and these displacements stop,” Murphy says. “Because the violence will not end...if the Palestinians feel like they have no future”
NEW: Lawmakers are opening up about the years-long failure to adequately address Havana syndrome & the more recent growing threat of directed-energy attacks on Americans overseas & at home.
“We owe this to our people,” Senate Intel chair tells me
“The fact that we’re five years into this and we’re still making sure we’ve got the protocols to one, take care of our people who are injured, two, [identify] who did this, and three, [identify] what tools or weapons did they use — these are all critical questions,” Warner says
Senate Intel vice chair Rubio agrees, says “it’s almost like the burden of proof is on these individuals, and given the nature of the injuries they’ve suffered, I don’t think it was initially treated the way it should’ve been.”
I reported in Feb. 2020 that Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), then-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, privately warned Johnson that his Biden investigations were aiding Russian disinformation efforts
Graham sticks up for Kerry: “I don’t know if we should trust that tape or not. If it’s true, it’s very damaging. I like John Kerry, but that would not be helpful & it would be very problematic if it were true. But let’s wait and see how authentic this is.” politico.com/news/2021/04/2…
If Zarif’s accounting is accurate, it would not be the first time that a top American official revealed classified information to a foreign adversary. In 2017, Trump reportedly discussed Israeli intelligence information during an Oval Office meeting with top Russian officials.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) calls for John Kerry’s resignation from the National Security Council. Sullivan says this is the first time he has called for a resignation.
Sullivan says Kerry is “arrogantly killing American jobs ... in the name of climate goals.”
On the Senate floor, Sullivan is now referencing the leaked tape of Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif saying Kerry told him about covert Israeli operations against Iranian assets in Syria.