Cotton says China's leadership 'must be made to pay the price' if coronavirus came from Wuhan lab

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Sen. Tom Cotton: If coronavirus originated in Wuhan lab, Beijing must be held accountable

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, joins Sean Hannity on 'Hannity.'

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Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., told "Hannity" Wednesday that China's leadership "must be made to pay the price" if it is determined that the coronavirus pandemic originated in a Wuhan laboratory.

Cotton was responding to an exclusive Fox News report that U.S. officials are increasingly confident that the virus that causes COVID-19 emerged from the laboratory not as a bioweapon, but as the result of a misbegotten effort to show China's efforts to identify and combat viruses are equal to or greater than the capabilities of the United States.

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"Since January, I've said it seems to be highly coincidental that this very contagious virus originated just a few hundred yards or maybe a couple miles from laboratories where the Chinese Communist Party researches coronaviruses," Cotton said. "Bret Baier's reporting tonight, if it bears out, shows that the Chinese Communist Party is responsible for every single death, every job lost, every retirement nest egg lost from this coronavirus, and Xi Jinping and his Chinese Communist apparatchiks must be made to pay the price. If that turns out to be true."

Multiple sources who have been briefed on the details of early actions by China's government and seen relevant materials spoke with Fox News, with one saying the Beijing government may have engaged in the "costliest government coverup of all time."

Cotton told host Sean Hannity he wants to open American courts for lawsuits against Chinese leaders, adding "I have legislation that would modify the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act [of 1976] to do just that."

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The senator also predicted that U.S. companies would undertake a "massive shift" of their manufacturing out of China, saying such an action "would be devastating to the Chinese economy."

"Just imagine," Cotton said, "not just in America, but all around the world, the demands for accountability and consequences on the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman Xi if it turns out that Chinese negligence and then Chinese corruption and treachery was responsible for unleashing this pandemic on the world."

Fox News' Bret Baier and Gregg Re contributed to this report.