House subcommittee accidentally releases COVID-19 origins documents

HOUSE REPUBLICANS ON THE SUBCOMMITTEE LOOKING INTO THE ORIGINS OF COVID-19 APPEAR TO HAVE ACCIDENTALLY RELEASED NEW DOCUMENTS RELATED TO THEIR INVESTIGATION.
THE DOCUMENTS SHED LIGHT ON DELIBERATIONS AMONG THE SCIENTISTS WHO DRAFTED AN ARTICLE THAT PLAYED A KEY ROLE IN DEFENDING THE THEORY THAT COVID EMERGED NATURALLY.
THE ARTICLE WAS RELEASED IN MARCH OF 20-20 IN THE JOURNAL “NATURE”
WHILE IT CONCLUDES THAT COVID-19 WAS NOT A LABORATORY CONSTRUCT OR A PURPOSELY MANIPULATED VIRUS — SCREENSHOTS OF EMAILS AND SLACK MESSAGES BETWEEN THE AUTHORS OF THE ARTICLE SHOWS THEY BELIEVED A LAB ESCAPE WAS QUOTE “HIGHLY LIKELY.”
CROPPED VERSIONS OF THE SCREENSHOTS WERE INCLUDED IN A SUBCOMMITTEE REPORT THAT WAS THE SUBJECT OF A HEARING THIS WEEK.
THE REPORT WITH CROPPED SCREENSHOTS WAS ORIGINALLY CREATED USING MICROSOFT WORD — BUT WORD RETAINED THE UNCROPPED SCREENSHOTS — EVEN AFTER THEY WERE CROPPED AND MADE INTO A P-D-F.
THIS ALLOWED TWITTER SLEUTHS AND NEWS AGENCIES TO EXTRACT THE UNCROPPED VERSIONS OF THE SCREENSHOTS FROM THE REPORT P-D-F.
ON ITS WEBSITE — MICROSOFT WARNS THAT WHEN WORKING WITH IMAGES ON WORD — QUOTE “CROPPED PARTS OF THE PICTURE ARE NOT REMOVED FROM THE FILE, AND CAN POTENTIALLY BE SEEN BY OTHERS; INCLUDING SEARCH ENGINES IF THE CROPPED IMAGE IS POSTED ONLINE.
IF THERE IS SENSITIVE INFORMATION IN THE AREA YOU’RE CROPPING OUT MAKE SURE YOU DELETE THE CROPPED AREAS — THEN SAVE THE FILE.”
MUCH OF THE HEARING THIS WEEK FOCUSED ON A CRITICAL FEW DAYS IN EARLY FEBRUARY OF 2020 — BEGINNING WITH A CONFERENCE CALL THAT INCLUDED THE NATURE ARTICLE’S AUTHORS AND DOCTOR ANTHONY FAUCI.
LATER MINUTES SHOWED THE CONSENSUS AMONG THE EXPERTS LEANED TOWARD A LAB ESCAPE THEORY.
YET WITHIN DAYS — THEY WERE CIRCULATING A DRAFT OF THE NATURE ARTICLE THAT CAME TO THE OPPOSITE CONCLUSION.
HOW AND WHY THAT RAPID TURNAROUND OCCURRED HAS BEEN THE SUBJECT OF MUCH DEBATE AND INTERROGATION.