Ted Cruz: WHO's Determination on COVID-19 Origins 'Shameful'

The World Health Organization's conclusions that the coronavirus that sparked the COVID-19 pandemic likely didn't come from a lab in Wuhan, China, is "shameful," Sen. Ted Cruz said Wednesday. 

"During the past year, the WHO has come under understandable and universal criticism because, as the coronavirus pandemic began in Wuhan, China, the WHO, instead of stepping in as medical professionals and acting quickly to stop the pandemic, just echoed the lies from the Chinese communist government," the Texas Republican said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom."

However, when the outbreak was beginning, the Chinese government "arrested whistleblowers, arrested physicians, silenced them," said Cruz. "They did everything they could to hide the outbreak. The WHO helped them."

But now, with President Joe Biden getting the United States back into the WHO after former President Donald Trump moved to pull out, the organization is agreeing with China that the virus did not escape from a lab, said Cruz. 

"This outbreak began in Wuhan, China," said Cruz. "One lab is within 400 yards of where the outbreak occurred. Both of those labs were not only studying viruses but studying coronavirus viruses from bats. The State Department more than a year earlier had commented on the poor security protocols at those viruses, said in writing there was a risk of a global pandemic originating from the government jobs because they did such a poor job securing the viruses. There has never been a thorough, credible, impartial third-party investigation into it."

Meanwhile, Trump's impeachment trial is continuing over the next few days, and Cruz compared it to Shakespeare because it is "full of sound and fury and yet signifying nothing."

"I think you're going to see a lot of partisan table pounding," said Cruz. "You will see a lot of effort to pull on emotions. We saw the beginning of that with the Hollywood video that the House managers began with."

But at the end of the day, it will take 67 votes to convict Trump, said Cruz, and there are not that many votes. 

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