Karl answered by likening the pandemic to the storming of the U.S. Capitol, saying “this is one of the greatest crises our country has ever faced and… we need to know how it started.” "I think a lot of people have egg on their face. This was an idea that was first put forward by Mike Pompeo… Donald Trump. And look, some things may be true even if Donald Trump said them. Because Trump was saying so much else, it was just out of control. And because he was — you know — making a frankly racist appeal, talking about ‘Kung Flu’ and the China virus, he put forward this notion… and it was widely dismissed." Karl concluded by saying “we still don’t know” the origins of Covid, “but now, serious people are saying it needs a serious inquiry.”