I'm Jillian Richards.

I'm Samantha Sharris.

And this is the Daily Signal Top News for Thursday, December 15th.

Here are today's headlines.

My colleague Fred Lucas reports that two incoming committee chairman in the House of Representatives

have begun an investigation into the origins of COVID-19.

Republican representatives James Comer of Kentucky and Jim Jordan of Ohio asked several

public health officials to hand over information on the role U.S. tax dollars played in funding

COVID-related research in China.

Comer and Jordan announced Wednesday that they would request transcribed interviews

from Dr. Anthony Fauci and 39 other officials.

The Republicans take the House majority.

Comer wrote in the Wednesday statements, mounting evidence points to the virus originating

from a leak at the Wuhan lab.

He noted that Echo Health Alliance, a grantee of the U.S. National Institutes of Health,

passed taxpayer funds to the Wuhan lab to conduct gain-of-function research on back

coronaviruses.

Comer added, Dr. Fauci was warned early on that the virus appeared man-made and pointed

to a lab leak, and instead of blowing the whistle, may have attempted to cover it up.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that if the U.S. confirms its reported plans

to send sophisticated air defense missiles to Ukraine, it would be another provocative

move by the U.S.

...