One of Congress’s biggest investigators into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic is calling it quits. Ohio Republican Representative Brad Wenstrup announced he will retire from Congress at the “end of next year.”
“I’m just a fortunate guy who’s been blessed with a wonderful wife, and two loving children under the age of 11,” Wenstrup said.
“I’m blessed with good health, and I look forward to fighting for truth, justice and the American way, in whatever I do in the future,” Wenstrup continued.
A heartfelt message. pic.twitter.com/XshgO24H5t
— Brad Wenstrup (@bradwenstrup) November 10, 2023
Wenstrup, writes The Hill, “has served in Congress since 2013 and serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and chairs the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. He previously served in the Army Reserve from 1998 to 2022 and spent time in Iraq as a combat surgeon in the mid-2000s.”
A former doctor, Wenstrup used his expertise to offer thoughtful “skepticism of the government’s handling of the pandemic and its decision to fund controversial research in China. He’s subpoenaed multiple Biden administration officials as part of his investigation into the origins of the virus,” explains Roll Call.
As the leader of the COVID-19 subcommittee, the Ohioan has looked into the actions of the CDC Director Mandy Cohen about how she has approved vaccines. The subcommittee also recently threatened to subpoena former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over accusations of his failure to respond to its investigation into his treatment of nursing homes during the pandemic.
“To date, we have not received a single document from you. The Select Subcommittee is comprised of physicians from both sides of the aisle and members who take our responsibilities seriously. Thousands of Americans dying is not, and should never be, partisan, as your spokesperson has publicly claimed,” wrote the lawmakers in their letter to former Governor Cuomo.
“Contrary to your and your spokesman’s unfortunate statements, this investigation is the result of your clearly medically misguided decision to expose New York’s most vulnerable to COVID-19 by issuing the ‘must admit’ orders, which had predicable but deadly consequences for 15,000 nursing home residents. Any attempt to cover up the truth and conceal culpability is not acceptable to the American people.”
He also used his medical expertise to focus on problems that have been deeply impacting his district, including opioid addiction. Wenstrup has been a strong advocate for non-opioid treatments to manage pain and says lawmakers need to do more to prevent opioid addiction.
