Tom Cotton touts bill to make China pay for unleashing pandemic on the world

Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here.

Sen. Tom Cotton said on Monday that China will be held accountable for causing the coronavirus outbreak to reach the rest of the world.

“China is a pariah state and we have to treat them like that,” Cotton, R-Ark., told “America’s Newsroom.”

US OFFICIALS CONFIRM FULL-SCALE INVESTIGATION OF WHETHER CORONAVIRUS ESCAPED FROM WUHAN LAB

“I've got legislation that will open the American courts to all the victims of this virus so they can sue Chinese officials. We can impose sanctions on Chinese who were involved in this coverup. We can bring back the manufacturing that China has depended on for so much of their economic growth over the last 40 years to the United States.”

CLICK HERE FOR FULL CORONAVIRUS MAP

Cotton said there are many other actions to ensure China pays the consequences for unleashing this pandemic and that the United States never again becomes dependent on China.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is conducting a full-scale investigation into whether the novel coronavirus, which went on to morph into a global pandemic that has brought the global economy to its knees, escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China, Fox News has learned.

Intelligence operatives are said to be gathering information about the laboratory and the initial outbreak of the virus. Intelligence analysts are piecing together a timeline of what the government knew and “creating an accurate picture of what happened,” the sources said.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

Once that investigation is complete – something that is expected to happen in the near-term – the findings will be presented to the Trump administration.

At that point, White House policymakers and President Trump will use the findings to determine how to hold the country accountable for the pandemic.

Fox News' Bret BaierGillian TurnerAdam Shaw contributed to this report.

Load more..