Former State Dept. investigator believes COVID-19 virus escaped from Wuhan lab, possibly a bioweapon

"The Wuhan Institute of Virology is not the National Institute of Health," said David Asher

Published: March 12, 2021 10:32pm

Updated: March 13, 2021 4:54pm

The former lead investigator at the State Department who oversaw the Task Force into the origin of the COVID-19 virus told Fox News that he believes the virus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, and that it may have been the result of research that the Chinese military was doing on a bioweapon.

"The Wuhan Institute of Virology is not the National Institute of Health," said David Asher, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. "It was operating a secret, classified program. In my view, and I'm just one person, my view is it was a biological weapons program."

Asher previously led the team that uncovered Pakistan's nuclear program, headed up by AQ Khan. He told Fox that he believes the Chinese Communist Party has engaged in a massive cover-up during the past 14 months.

"And if you believe, as I do, that this might have been a weapons vector gone awry, not deliberately released, but in development and then somehow leaked, this has turned out to be the greatest weapon in history," Asher said at a Hudson Institute event called "The Origins of the COVID-10: Policy Implications and Lessons for the Future."

"You've taken out 15 to 20 percent of global GDP. You've killed millions of people. The Chinese population has been barely affected. Their economies roared back to being number one in the entire G20."

There has been much speculation that this was not a naturally occurring virus, coming from bats, but rather something that occurred in the Wuhan lab. The question has persisted as to whether it was released intentionally or by accident.

"Motive, cover-up, conspiracy, all the hallmarks of guilt are associated with this. And the fact that the initial cluster of victims surrounded the very institute that was doing the highly dangerous, if not dubious research is significant," said Asher.

Asher dealt with the Chinese government as the State Department's lead representative during the 2003 SARS outbreak.