House Oversight Republicans name 40 officials they want to interview about COVID-19 origins

Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Wednesday notified 40 officials, including top-ranking Biden appointees, they want them to answer questions about the origins of COVID-19.

The GOP in the November midterms won control of the House and in January will take over, which includes leading the chamber's investigative committees. 

Reps. James Comer and Jim Jordan sent letters Wednesday requesting transcribed interviews with the officials including Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, retiring National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci and acting Presidential Science Advisor Dr. Francis Collins.

"The American people deserve the facts and the truth about the origins of COVID-19," they wrote, amid ongoing concerns the virus was leaked from a virology lab in Wuhan, China, where the virus was first detected, and that federal money was used to support potentially risky research at the lab. 

"COVID-19 disrupted our lives and livelihoods for over two years," the letter continues. "If we had known the truth about the virus’s origins, we could have combatted the virus in a more meaningful way at the outset of the pandemic."

Jordan and Comer say numerous attempts to contact federal health agencies to learn more about the origins have been "ignored."