China lied. People died.

The U.S. intelligence community has reportedly confirmed what has been obvious to anyone paying attention: The Chinese Communist Party has been maliciously untruthful from the get-go about the coronavirus it unleashed on the world.

Two unnamed sources cited by Bloomberg, described the classified report’s conclusions more diplomatically, saying the data supplied by Beijing were “intentionally incomplete.”

Call it what you will, the devastating effect of the Communist Chinese selectively releasing such information, was confirmed on Tuesday by Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House point person on COVID-19: It kept our government from properly understanding and quickly responding to a pandemic involving a highly contagious disease.

In other words, to paraphrase a favorite Democratic talking-point from the George W. Bush years: “China lied. People died.” The Chinese Communist Party must be held accountable for that appalling truth – and continuing scandal.

This is Frank Gaffney.