Missouri AG serves Chinese Communist Party in lawsuit over ‘unleashing’ COVID-19 pandemic

close

Video

Evidence of COVID origin points to Wuhan lab: Pompeo

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the left wanted to deny the theory that coronavirus was leaked from a lab in Wuhan.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt on Tuesday said he officially served the Chinese Communist Party and several other groups over the role they allegedly played in the COVID-19 outbreak.

"I filed this suit to hold the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese authorities accountable for their role in the COVID-19 pandemic, which has taken lives, ruined businesses, destroyed economies, and more. Serving these entities is an important step in that process," Schmitt said in a statement. "Despite China’s stonewalling, my Office remains determined to hold the Chinese authorities accountable for unleashing the COVID-19 pandemic."

In addition to the Chinese Communist Party, the Wuhan Institute for Virology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences were served in Schmitt's lawsuit.

In a press release, Schmitt detailed the lengths his office had to go to in order to serve the groups in question, a process that has played out over the course of months. He is also undergoing the necessary process to serve the People’s Republic of China through diplomatic channels.

Schmitt also notified President Biden on Tuesday that the affected parties had been served. The initial lawsuit was filed in federal district court in April 2020.

'RUSH LIMBAUGH DAY' APPROVED BY MISSOURI HOUSE IN HONOR OF THE LATE CONSERVATIVE ICON

The lawsuit claims there was an "appalling campaign of deceit, concealment, misfeasance, and inaction" that "unleased this pandemic." The lawsuit also claims that Chinese authorities deceived the public, suppressed important information, destroyed medical research and arrested whistleblowers, among other items.

The goal of the suit, according to Schmitt, is to help Americans learn the truth about China’s role in causing and exacerbating the pandemic.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The first known cases of COVID-19 in humans have been traced to Wuhan in 2019. It is not known exactly how the virus originated, with theories ranging from natural introduction to accidental introduction from the Wuhan lab where researchers had studied coronaviruses in animals.

During a congressional hearing earlier this month, Dr. Anthony Fauci – the nation’s top expert on infectious diseases – said he was "fully in favor of any further investigation of what went on in China" because he did not have "any accounting of what the Chinese may have done," when asked by Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul about the virus’ origins.