Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Dr. Tom Borelli’s commentary originally published at Newsmax.com
The fix is in.
An organization focused on finding the origin of COVID-19 in China includes individuals with potential political and professional conflicts of interest.
In July, The Lancet COVID-19 Commission was established ” . . . to help speed up global, equitable, and lasting solutions to the pandemic.”
A key part of the commission is to investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic where it promises to evaluate the evidence ” . . . in a scientific and objective way that is unhindered by geopolitical agendas and misinformation.”
Does this commission really want to get at the root of COVID-19’s origins?
The real objective of the commission seems to be to undermine President Trump, protect China, and shield risky bat coronavirus research.
The globalist establishment understands after the pandemic subsides, nations will demand to know how COVID-19 became such a global scourge and how the commission appears to be taking preemptive action to slant the results.
The sense of urgency is high because President Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo previously declared the origin of COVID-19 was from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
In May, President Trump said COVID-19 was from the Wuhan research laboratory and Pompeo was more specific saying, “I can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan.”
The central debate is whether COVID-19 was from the Wuhan Institute Laboratory or was a result of a naturally occurring event tied to a wet market in Wuhan.
The concern over the origin of COVID-19 from the Wuhan lab accelerated after Fox News host Tucker Carlson interviewed Dr. Li-Meng Yan — a Chinese virologist — who claimed the COVID-19 was “not from nature” but was a “man-made virus.”
Are President Trump, Mike Pompeo, and Dr. Yan correct?
Is China responsible for COVID-19 itself and for misleading the world about its ability to be spread by humans?
Given the high political stakes, getting to the truth about the origin of COVID-19 is going to be hard, if not impossible.
The legitimacy of The Lancet COVID-19 Commission is severely uncut by its members.
The chairman of the group is Columbia University professor and frequent MSNBC guest Jeffrey Sachs.
Sachs is a vocal critic of President Trump. In February, Sachs attacked the president during a meeting at the Vatican where he called the U.S., ” . . . a dangerous country right now and it will be absolutely dangerous if Trump wins re-election.”
The same night Dr. Yan was calling out China over COVID-19, Sachs appeared on MSNBC and was introduced as chairman of The Lancet COVID-19 Commission.
During the interview, Sachs blasted the president saying, “anything Trump touches is a lie” and “he makes things rotten.”
The selection of commission member Dr. Peter Daszak illustrates the biased agenda of the group.
Daszak is leading the investigation of the origin of COVID-19 but he has a significant conflict of interest.
The problem is Daszak runs the EcoHealth Alliance — the organization that received NIH funding to conduct bat coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute for Virology.
Clearly, it’s in Daszak professional interest if the virus was naturally occurring since he would have a reason to seek more grant money to study bat coronaviruses in China.
However, if COVID-19 was a result of lab research experiments tied to Daszak’s work with the Chinese, he would share accountability for the pandemic.
With so much at risk, Daszak is taking an aggressive stance in the media and on social media.
Daszak defended his role in the commission claiming he will examine the evidence “with an open mind,” but his prior statements seem to conflict with his objectivity.
Before his appointment, Daszak was not shy about slamming the lab origin theory.
In media interviews he dismissed the lab origin of COVID-19 as “pure baloney” and “crackpot theories.”
Moreover, Daszak fears the focus on the Wuhan lab will jeopardize collaborative research with the Chinese. He joined other scientists that signed a petition aimed at protecting research with China.
The document also blasted the idea COVID-19 was lab-based stating, “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.”
Finally, Daszak is not a fan of President Trump.
In a recent tweet, he declared, “I’m ridin’ with Biden! How could any scientist sit on the sidelines right now as our President undermines scientific data & clearly puts people’s lives at risk every single day.”
Finding out the origin of COVID-19 is of supreme importance but don’t look for the commission to find anything but a predetermined result blaming Mother Nature for the pandemic.
Tom Borelli, Ph.D., is a contributor to Real America’s Voice News and a TV and radio political commentator.
