During a hearing hosted by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Wednesday, which is investigating the origins of the COVID-19 virus, Democratic Ranking Member Raul Ruiz used his time to falsely accuse award winning author and scientific journalist Nicholas Wade -- who supports the lab leak theory -- of white supremacy.
Wade, who served as an expert witness for the hearing, strongly refuted Ruiz's claims and called them a distraction from the important task at hand: getting to the bottom of how the pandemic started.
"I think I should briefly try and respond to an attempt by Ranking Member Ruiz to discredit my testimony by saying a number of untrue things about the book I wrote ten years ago on the biology of race. This was determined a non-racist book. It has no scientific errors that I'm aware of. It has no racist statements and it stresses the theme of unity that we are all variations on the same human genome," Wade said. "I have nothing to be ashamed of in my book. It's the only place you can now read about what the genome says about human races and I hope Mr. Ruiz, if he reads it, will be pleasantly surprised to find it says none of the things he says it said."
Dem Raul Ruiz, the Ranking Member of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, tried to discredit witness Nicholas Wade by linking his work to white supremacists.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 8, 2023
The British author and journalist wasn’t having it.
“Although, it’s a giant distraction from the work… https://t.co/YEw63fWiud pic.twitter.com/buSA8MOXHn
Meanwhile, Republican Chairman Brad Wenstrup opened the hearing by focusing on the topic and asked Ruiz to do the same.
🚨@RepBradWenstrup opens today's hearing on the origin of COVID-19.
— Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (@COVIDSelect) March 8, 2023
"Discovering the virus' origin is fundamental to helping us predict and prevent future pandemics, protecting our health and national security, and preparing the United States for the future." pic.twitter.com/5me51v8fDc
Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Nicholas Wade was a Nobel Prize winner. He is not. He wrote a number of books about the work of Nobel Prize winning scientists. The error is regretted and has been corrected.
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