With much of the state starting to rebound from the coronavirus outbreak, Florida’s Attorney General is turning her attention to the real culprit of the mass contagion: China.

Attorney General Ashley Moody called on Congress to investigate the Chinese government’s role in the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday, issuing a letter to a coalition of leaders in the U.S. House and Senate. Moody, along with 17 other state attorneys general, is calling for a congressional investigation into the communist regime’s role in covering up its coronavirus crisis and intentionally misleading the international community about the severity of the disease.

“What did the Communist Party of China know, when did they know it and why did its members participate in a massive conspiracy to cover up and mislead the international community about the severity and highly contagious nature of the novel coronavirus?”

“We need answers and we need them soon,” Moody said. “Americans are dying and millions are losing their jobs. We demand to know whether China lied to the world as the coronavirus rapidly traveled from Wuhan to our shores—infecting and killing thousands along the way.”

I am calling on Congress to investigate China’s role in the #COVID19 pandemic.

Americans are dying and millions are losing their jobs. We demand to know whether China lied to the world as the coronavirus rapidly traveled from Wuhan to our shores.https://t.co/UtvPsHQGEj

— AG Ashley Moody (@AGAshleyMoody) May 11, 2020

The letter, which is addressed to the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committees, asks congressional officials to “hold China accountable for the devastation and destruction caused by COVID-19,” citing the uphill battle the nation faces from the economic fallout caused by the disease.

“Tens of thousands have died from the virus and millions have lost their jobs,” the letter reads. “Countless businesses, both big and small, will perish and our states will grapple with tough economic decisions for years to come.”

From the start of the global virus, much of the blame has been levied towards China for the role they played in exacerbating the problem. In the age of globalization and mass communication, China could have prevented the spread of the virus from the onset. China’s authoritarian government, however, made that impossible. It was reported in December that communist authorities cracked down on people attempting to blow the whistle on the origins of the coronavirus, putting a muzzle on doctors and reporters who tried to warn colleagues and much of the public.

The crackdown of information led to the virus spreading to other countries, including the U.S., who now has the most confirmed cases.

The current worldwide death total from the coronavirus is now approaching 300,000, with the U.S. death toll sitting at 80,000—including more than 1,700 in Florida. 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., resulting in over 33 million Americans filing jobless claims since the start of the breakout.

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

To read the entire letter, click HERE.