Biden administration releases records to GOP-led panel probing COVID "Wuhan lab leak" theory
CBSN
The Health and Human Services (HHS) Department has released 900 pages of records to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, according to an HHS official, as the Republican-led panel launches its review of the Biden administration's handling of the pandemic crisis.
Committee chairman Rep. Brad Wenstrup, Republican of Ohio, had requested records from the agency, including from National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins, former White House COVID adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Beccera. The panel, which was previously controlled by Democrats, said it is probing whether COVID-19 originated from a lab in Wuhan, China and the Chinese Communist Party covered it up, as well as whether U.S. taxpayer dollars were being sent to the lab.
The committee requested phone records, calendars and dozens of sets of internal records from top federal health officials. Though HHS did not specify what records it shared with the panel Tuesday evening, an agency spokesperson told CBS News, "The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is committed to working in good faith to address the Select Subcommittee's oversight requests."
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden were honored at a state dinner in Paris at the Presidential Elysee Palace on Saturday, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and first lady Brigitte Macron marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day two days prior and the strength of the countries' long alliance.
President Joe Biden said France was America's "first friend" at its founding and is one of its closest allies more than two centuries later as he was honored with a state visit Saturday by French President Emmanuel Macron aimed at showing off their partnership on global security issues and easing past trade tensions.
The Consumer Federal Protection Bureau last week launched an inquiry into what the agency is calling "junk fees in mortgage closing costs." These additional fees, involving home appraisal, title insurance and other services, have spiked in recent years and can add thousands of dollars to the final cost of buying a home.
Retired Maj. Gen. William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic "Earthrise" photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90.