WASHINGTON — The COVID-19 pandemic “probably” began after a lab leak in Wuhan, China, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday.
He publicly showed the lab’s assessment of the lab leak theory for the first time in an interview with Fox News.
“The FBI has been assessing for some time that the origins of the pandemic are likely a possible laboratory incident in Wuhan,” Wray said. “Here talking about a possible leak from a laboratory controlled by the Chinese government. “
Since the first case of COVID-19 in the U. S. In January 2020, the Chinese have tried to “thwart and obscure” investigations into the origin of the pandemic, Wray said.
The Wall Street Journal and CNN had reported that the FBI had “moderate confidence” in the lab leak in 2021, a year after COVID-19 reached the United States.
Wray’s admission marks the moment when the government company publicly publishes the theory of leakage in the lab. The Energy Ministry also released the assessment that COVID-19 started in a lab, but called it “low confidence. “
Other intelligence agencies are divided or unsure about the origin, and some have “little confidence” that COVID-19 began naturally when the virus spread from an animal to a human.
But all intelligence agencies agree that COVID-19 is not the result of biological warfare, according to the Wall Street Journal.
President Joe Biden supports “whole-of-government” efforts to reveal the origin of the virus that has killed more than a million Americans, White House spokesman John Kirby said Monday.
“We just haven’t gotten there yet,” he said. If we have something that is in a position to be presented to other Americans and to Congress, we will do it. “
China said Wednesday that there is “no credibility” in the assessment that the pandemic began in a laboratory, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning accusing the United States of politicizing the origins of COVID-19.
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Candy Woodall is a congressional reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at cwoodall@usatoday. com or on Twitter at @candynotcandace.