Congressman Clay Higgins met with rice and crawfish farmers on Tuesday, June 23 to discuss COVID-19 relief and ongoing issues faced by Louisiana farmers.
At the event, Higgins made a claim that "this particular virus has characteristics which would lead one to believe that it was created in a laboratory."
He also stated that the virus shows "characteristics of being a weaponized virus."
When asked to name those characteristics, Higgins told us he's not at liberty to go deep into it, and told us to Google it.
We did look up those characteristics. We found that scientists, not only in the U.S. but also across the world, say there is "zero evidence" that COVID-19 was created in a lab.
The claim originated in a January story in the Washington Times and has been repeated by several members of Congress.
Higgins says he and other congress members are pushing for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus.
When we asked the Congressman about his comments, he sent the following statement:
“We know with certainty that COVID-19 originated in China. There are documented reports dating back to January 2018 raising concerns over safety procedures at the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab. Whether the virus came from the lab in Wuhan, a wet market, or some other origin is unknown. However, all are possible.”
“What’s clear is that the Communist Party of China lied to the world and went to great lengths to cover up the early spread of Coronavirus. Chinese propaganda cannot be trusted, and the Communist Party continues to obstruct any investigation into the virus’ origin. This is why I’m pushing efforts in Congress to hold China accountable and seek the truth.”
Today's meeting was held at the Thibodeaux Brother's Farm Shop in Midland at 10:00 am.
Those who attended were asked to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on COVID-19.
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