Coronavirus was ‘not manmade or genetically modified’ says lead U.S. intelligence agency
The top U.S. spy agency said for the first time on Thursday that the nation’s collective intelligence community does not believe that the coronavirus was manmade or genetically modified.
“The Intelligence Community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified,” the Office of Director of National Intelligence said in a rare statement.
“The IC will continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan,” it added.
The statement from the Office of Director of National Intelligence contradicts reports suggesting that the new coronavirus had been developed by Chinese scientists in a government biological weapons laboratory.
The U.S. intelligence community was tasked with examining whether the virus that caused the global pandemic emerged accidentally from a Chinese research lab, current and former U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News. [Continue reading…]
President Trump said Thursday that he had seen evidence to prove that the coronavirus pandemic had spread from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, but he declined to detail what that evidence was.
“I’m not allowed to tell you that,” he said at a White House news conference at which he repeatedly accused China’s government of being negligent in its response to the virus, while leaving open the possibility it was intentionally spread.
Speaking to reporters after an event intended to highlight the administration’s efforts to protect nursing home residents from COVID-19, Trump was asked about a statement released Thursday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that stated the U.S. believed the coronavirus was “not manmade or genetically modified.”
Trump seemed unfamiliar with the finding and pressed the reporter for the name of the official behind the statement, which was attributed only to “the Office of Director of National Intelligence.”
The reporter asked the president if he had personally seen evidence that the virus originated in a laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
“Yes, I have,” Trump said.
Pressed later on the specific evidence that gave him confidence that the virus had come from a lab, Trump said, “I can’t tell you that. I’m not allowed to tell you that.” [Continue reading…]