and millions more worldwide. now new revelations about the mysterious origin of covid. mark esper is here live. f-16s are not the key capability of that offensive. sean penn pleads with president biden to send fighter jets to ukraine or the actor says there will be, quote, blood on our hands. sean penn joins me and president xi and his military leadership have doubts today about whether they could accomplish that invasion. and china, russia and the united states reach a critical point in the ukraine war, the cia says beijing is having second thoughts about potentially invading taiwan and a significant admission from the head of fox news, acknowledging the host on his network promoted election lies. what this means for the billion dollar lawsuit against fox news. we want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer, and this is a special edition of t the situation room. tonight, new questions around the center of the co
doubts today. about whether they could accomplish that invasion. as china, russia, united states reached a critical point in the ukraine war. the cia says beijing s having second thoughts about potentially invading taiwan. and a significant from the head of fox move. rupert murdoch acknowledging the hosts on his network promoted election lies. what this means for the billion dollar lawsuit against fox news. we want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and around the. world i m wolf blitzer and this is a special edition of the situation room. tonight, major new questions right at the center of a deadly coronavirus pandemic. that may change so many lives. where did covid-19 come from? the white house weighing in the same thing on the u.s. energy departments assessment. that the lethal virus most likely came from a lab leak in china. emphasis on the caveat here. cnn sources tell us that the assessment comes with quote, low confidence. tonight they say withi
origin that doesn t exist in wuhan. if this comes from nature, there would have to be some evidence of it coming from nature. right now we don t have that evidence. now house republicans are demanding more information from the state department, fbi and doe on the origins of covid-19. you do believe it is noble. how so if china is not cooperating. there is some information that we already have and there is other information i think we can pursue that doesn t require china s consent, that can lead us to the proper con collusion. i want to make sure that we are readying ourself for the next pandemic. and the more we can learn about natural origins or a possible lab leak, then the better off we re going to be. and earlier today, top house republicans sent letters to the fbi, department of energy and the state department calling for details and transcripts.
we can pursue. that doesn t require china s consent. that can lead us to the proper conclusion. i want to make sure that we re readying ourself for the next pandemic if the more that we learn from natural origins, or lab leaks, then the better off we re gonna be. and earlier today, top house republicans sent letters to the fbi department of energy in the state department calling for details. and transcripts. the first hearing on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic will be held on march 8th. wolf. pamela, standby. we ll get back to you shortly. china s been defiant from the very beginning about covid s origin. and now says i m quoting, parties concerned should stop smearing the country. cnn s david culver is with us. he s here in washington. he was in wuhan january 2020, we the first covid cases were detected. so, what else dave it is china saying about this lab leak theory? the reality, is this is one of the most sensitive topics, wolf, for the chinese. you look at a rang
one reported confirmed death at this time. but i ll know more tomorrow, don, and when we will be providing updates. yeah. well, look, this is not good news, obviously, and this video just looks horrible. guy mcinnis is the president of st. bernard parish down in new orleans. listen, we re thinking about you guys. we re going to continue reporting on it. and stay safe. thank you so much. all right? you guys take care down there. thank you, don. and god bless. thank you. you as well. so back now to our story here in ukraine, russian opposition leader and putin critic alexei navalny sentenced to nine more years in maximum security in a penal colony. that s according to russian state media. the state department calling for his immediate release and calling today s decision a sham ruling. he was convicted he was convicted of fraud for allegedly stealing from his own