The Biden administration and his intelligence community are remaining mum on developments related to federal agency assessments on the origins of COVID-19 pointing to the Wuhan lab as Republicans in Congress demand answers.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released that assessment in August 2021, stating that one U.S. intelligence agency, believed to be the FBI, assessed with “moderate confidence” that the virus most likely emerged from the Wuhan lab, while four U.S. spy agencies and the National Intelligence Council believe with “low confidence” that the virus most likely has a natural origin. All U.S. spy agencies agree COVID-19 originated in China.
CHINA STILL PUSHING U.S. MILITARY CONSPIRACY THEORY ON COVID-19 ORIGINS
The ODNI document, further declassified in October 2021, included a section titled “The Case for the Laboratory-Associated Incident Hypothesis” — a conclusion believed to have been reached by the FBI.
However, this weekend, it was reported the Energy Department also believes with “low confidence” that the coronavirus started at the Wuhan lab. Biden administration officials refused to confirm the report, and the intelligence community wouldn't say if it is true.
The Energy Department told the Washington Examiner that “we can neither confirm nor deny the item at issue” and referred to national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s weekend comments and a White House press briefing on Monday — both instances in which the Biden administration declined to provide specifics.
The FBI also declined to comment other than directing the Washington Examiner to ODNI, and ODNI declined to comment. The White House National Security Council did not respond to a request for comment.
Sullivan told CNN on Sunday that he would not comment on the Energy Department’s conclusions but noted that “President Biden specifically requested that the National Labs, which are part of the Department of Energy, be brought into this assessment because he wants to put every tool at use to be able to figure out what happened here.”
Despite refusing to comment on the Energy Department’s findings, Sullivan promised on Sunday that “if we gain any further insight or information, we will share it with Congress, and we will share it with the American people.”
White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby was asked about the Energy Department’s lab leak assessment on Monday, but he did not speak to it directly.
“There is not a consensus right now in the U.S. government about exactly how COVID started. There is just not an intelligence community consensus,” Kirby said.
When asked if the Energy Department’s data should be shared with the public, Kirby replied, “If we have something that we believe can be reported to the Congress and to the American people that we’re confident in, we will absolutely do that.”
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the Energy Department had shifted from being undecided to leaning toward the lab leak hypothesis and that this shift is now noted in a still-secret update to ODNI’s 2021 report.
The Energy Department's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory reportedly also concluded in May 2020 that the Wuhan lab leak hypothesis was, at minimum, plausible and deserved further study. Lawrence Livermore has a biosciences and biotechnology section, which has helped “solve important national problems in biosecurity, human health, and environmental biology” — including those related to the study of viruses.
The Wall Street Journal also said the CIA remains undecided. ODNI has refused to confirm publicly which spy agencies are taking which position on COVID-19’s origins.
A Trump State Department fact sheet released in January 2021 contended Wuhan lab researchers had previously conducted experiments involving what the Wuhan lab had identified as the “closest sample” to SARS-CoV-2 and that the lab “has a published record of conducting ‘gain-of-function’ research to engineer chimeric viruses.” The fact sheet asserted the lab “engaged in classified research, including laboratory animal experiments, on behalf of the Chinese military” and that lab workers became sick with coronavirus-like symptoms in the fall of 2019.
The Biden State Department did not respond to a Washington Examiner query on whether it stands by those findings. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted, “There was always enormous evidence that the Wuhan coronavirus leaked from the Wuhan lab. I’m glad the Department of Energy recognizes this reality.”
Republicans have long been adamant that the Biden administration needs to declassify intelligence on COVID-19’s origins and make public what it knows.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), now chairman of House Foreign Affairs, said he was “pleased” the Energy Department “has finally reached the same conclusion that I had already come to” and requested a “full and thorough briefing from the administration on this report and the evidence behind it.”
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Officials from the Trump and then Biden administrations have said the Chinese government has worked for years to thwart an independent investigation into the origins of the virus, and both administrations cast doubt on the manner in which a joint study between the World Health Organization and China released in early 2021 was conducted. Chinese officials, diplomats, and state-run outlets have repeatedly attempted to shift blame to the U.S. military baselessly since the pandemic began.
Scientists consulting with the U.S. government early in the pandemic in 2020 believed COVID-19 originating from a lab in Wuhan was possible or even likely, but emails indicate Dr. Anthony Fauci and then-National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins worked to shut the hypothesis down.