The United States shared “gobsmacking” evidence with Britain at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic that suggested a “high likelihood” that the virus had leaked from a Chinese lab, The Telegraph can reveal.
Five Eyes intelligence-sharing nations were convened in Jan 2021 to discuss the possibility of a “lab leak”, as the US warned that China had covered up research on coronaviruses and military activity at a laboratory in Wuhan.
In a previously unreported phone call in Jan 2021, Mike Pompeo, the former US secretary of state, presented evidence that supported the lab leak theory to his counterparts, Dominic Raab, then the Foreign Secretary, and representatives from Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
Speaking to The Telegraph, two Trump administration officials accused Mr Raab and the UK government of ignoring the lab leak theory because of resistance from government scientists who supported the explanation that the virus had jumped between animals and humans.
Mr Pompeo presented a summary of classified American intelligence reports collected in the early days of the pandemic and compiled by the State Department. The intelligence reports themselves are understood to have been shared separately with the UK via the Five Eyes network between Oct and Dec 2020.
“We saw several pieces of information and thought that they were, frankly, gobsmacking,” said one former official who worked on the intelligence that informed Mr Pompeo’s report. “They obviously pointed to the high likelihood that this was indeed a lab leak.”