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Comment by Ami Bera

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U.S. Representative (D-California)
The scientific community did the best that they could to try to understand the origins. [...] I appreciate the openness to thinking about, you know, whether origins were from a lab leak versus, you know, a wet market. We continue to explore that. [...] It is important for us to understand and continue to try to gather information to understand that--given that we may never reach a conclusion...
AI Verified (Jul 11, 2023)
Source:
Ami Bera, remarks in "Investigating the Proximal Origin of a Cover-Up," House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic hearing, July 11, 2023.
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Policy proposals and claims
COVID-19 originated from a lab-related incident rather than natural zoonotic spillover
abstains
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Statement relation comments

AI Verified In context, Bera explicitly discusses the same origins question—lab leak versus wet-market/zoonotic origin—and says investigators should keep exploring both possibilities, that "we may never reach a conclusion," and that Congress should not discount wet-market emergence. That makes the quote directly relevant and gives a determinable uncertainty/abstention signal rather than clear support or opposition. ([govinfo.gov](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-118hhrg53002/html/CHRG-118hhrg53002.htm)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago
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AI Verified He is explicitly noncommittal: he says the origins could be "from a lab leak versus ... a wet market," that "we continue to explore that," and that "we may never reach a conclusion." In the source context, he also says "we shouldn't discount the theory that this emerged from a wet market" and that both possibilities should be considered. ([govinfo.gov](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-118hhrg53002/html/CHRG-118hhrg53002.htm)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago

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AI Verified Authentic. The govinfo transcript identifies the speaker as Dr. Bera immediately before these remarks, and the source URL contains the submitted wording at lines 1551-1560; the [...] omissions skip intervening text without altering the meaning. Official House hearing records also place this hearing on July 11, 2023. ([govinfo.gov](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-118hhrg53002/html/CHRG-118hhrg53002.htm)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago
replying to Ami Bera