This article is adapted from today’s Morning Wire Afternoon Update. To listen to the podcast version, click here.
The UK’s Sunday Times has released a “bombshell” investigation, as described by HotAir.com, reporting that the COVID-19 virus was indeed created at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in collaboration with the Chinese military. The report also alleges that some of the funding came from the controversial EcoHealth Alliance, which is funded in part by American taxpayers through grants. The Times says it “reviewed hundreds of documents, including previously confidential reports, internal memos, scientific papers and email correspondence” from the three years prior to the pandemic. The outlet “also interviewed the US State Department investigators — including experts on China, emerging pandemic threats, and biowarfare — who conducted the first significant US inquiry into the origins of the Covid-19 outbreak.” A recap of that investigation can be read here.
Hundreds Of Billions In Covid Waste
The origin of the virus isn’t the only part of the pandemic that remains controversial. U.S. federal investigators are still on the hunt for what happened to roughly $400 billion in COVID relief doled out to American businesses, organizations, and citizens during the years 2020 and 2021.
A new analysis by the Associated Press revealed that fraudsters allegedly stole more than $280 billion in COVID-19 relief funding. According to the analysis, an additional $123 billion was either wasted or misspent by the U.S. government. Federal spending skyrocketed due to the pandemic, and taxpayers shelled out $4.2 trillion and counting in COVID relief. Now, more than 2,000 individuals have been charged with pandemic-related fraud and investigators are still searching for and filing new charges.
JP Morgan To Pay $290 Million To Epstein Victims
Financial giant JP Morgan has agreed to pay victims of the late Jeffrey Epstein a whopping $290 million in a historic class action lawsuit settlement. The bank was sued in 2022 by one woman on behalf of herself and other victims after it was discovered that the bank continued to do business with Epstein even after he was deemed a “high-risk client” client. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died in federal prison in 2019.
Daniel Penny, the 24-year-old Marine veteran who went viral for putting the homeless man Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold on May 1 has spoken out – disputing several claims about the incident:
Michael Knowles on Twitter: “Daniel Penny is a hero.pic.twitter.com/3EYtithrac / Twitter”
Daniel Penny is a hero.pic.twitter.com/3EYtithrac
