South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson is leading 17 states in calling on Congress to investigate the communist Chinese government’s role in the COVID-19 pandemic. Attorney General Wilson sent a letter Friday to the leadership of the House and Senate Foreign Relations Committees, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and other House and Senate leaders asking for a Congressional investigation.

“Recent reports suggest that the communist Chinese government willfully and knowingly concealed information about the severity of the virus while simultaneously stockpiling personal protective equipment,” Attorney General Wilson said in the letter. “In what Secretary of State Pompeo has described as a ‘classic communist disinformation effort,’ the Chinese government, aided by the World Health Organization, appears to have intentionally misled the world over the last six months.”

The current U.S. death toll from this coronavirus is nearly 80,000 and the pandemic’s economic devastation has caused the unemployment rate to skyrocket from 3.5 percent in February to its current rate of 14.7 percent. The Chinese government’s mishandling and deliberate deception has caused death and hardship for millions of Americans. Republican attorneys general, as chief legal officers of their respective states, want to hold China accountable for its actions.

“One of our colleagues has already filed suit against China and many of us are considering similar legal actions,” Attorney General Wilson said. “Congressional hearings are critical to our nation’s understanding of the origins of COVID-19 and efforts by the communist Chinese government to deceive the international community.” In April, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt became the first in the nation to file a lawsuit against China, citing a “campaign of deceit” on the part of the Chinese related to the outbreak of the pandemic. In addition, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced her decision also to file a lawsuit holding China accountable.

In addition to South Carolina, the following states’ attorneys general signed onto the letter: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia.