‘I don’t believe in evolution, I believe in God’: Marjorie Taylor Greene argues Covid escaped from Wuhan lab

Conservative lawmaker calls Covid-19 a ‘bioweapon’ while railing against Dr Anthony Fauci

(EPA)

Conservative firebrand Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene leaned on religion in an attempt to argue that the coronavirus pandemic was released from a Wuhan lab, and not introduced into the population via an animal at a “wet market” in China.

Appearing on Steve Bannon’s Real America’s Voice podcast on Tuesday, Ms Greene lashed out at President Biden’s top medical adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci, and called Covid-19 a “bioweapon” that she believes was unleashed from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Ms Greene said she didn’t support so-called “gain-of-function research”, where lab technicians will take a virus and tweak it in order to develop vaccines and other medications.

“I don’t buy it because I don’t believe in evolution. I don’t believe in that type of so-called ‘science’. I don’t believe in evolution, I believe in God,” she said, using air quotes to emphasise her point.

There has been increasing scrutiny over the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, with the lab-leak theory quickly moving from fringe conspiracy theory to more mainstream acceptance of late. Mr Biden recently ordered an intelligence community investigation into the virus’s origins, with a report due back within 90 days.

That doesn’t mean Ms Greene’s arguments should be taken at face value. The Republican lawmaker has often made headlines for controversial, and often debunked, comments since she entered the political arena. Recently, Ms Greene attacked Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over her grandmother’s dilapidated Puerto Rico home. Before that, Ms Greene compared Covid vaccinations to the Holocaust – on several occasions.

And in May on Mr Bannon’s programme, Ms Greene said the US should just stop caring about Covid altogether. “We need to care about the real issues that matter. We need to stop the masks, stop the vaccines and stop Covid-19 from controlling our lives,” she said.

Watch Ms Greene’s latest appearance below: