Could Trump be right after all?????
Trump contradicts US intel community by claiming he's seen evidence coronavirus originated in Chinese lab
By
Zachary Cohen,
Alex Marquardt,
Kylie Atwood and
Jim Acosta, CNN
Updated 0732 GMT (1532 HKT) May 1, 2020
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump contradicted a rare on-the-record statement from his own intelligence community by claiming Thursday that he has seen evidence that gives him a "high degree of confidence" the
novel coronavirus originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, but declined to provide details to back up his assertion.
The comments undercut a public statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued just hours earlier which stated no such assessment has been made and continues to "rigorously examine" whether the outbreak "began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan."
"Yes, I have," Trump said when asked whether he's seen evidence that would suggest
the virus originated in the lab. Later, asked why he was confident in that assessment, Trump demurred.
"I can't tell you that. I'm not allowed to tell you that," he said.
Trump administration draws up plans to punish China over coronavirus outbreak
Trump officials have been pushing the US intelligence community to determine the exact origins of the coronavirus outbreak
in pursuit of an unproven theory that
the pandemic started because of a laboratory accident in China, multiple sources told CNN.
In acknowledgment of that effort, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued an unprecedented public statement Thursday prior to Trump's comments making clear the intelligence community is currently exploring two possibilities but cannot yet assess if the outbreak "was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan" or began "through contact with infected animals."
It is unusual for the intelligence community to comment publicly on its work before a formal assessment is made. Thursday's statement appears to have come in response to growing questions over the origins of the virus as Trump administration officials have spent weeks repeatedly floating the theory that the virus originated inside a Chinese lab.
Trump said Thursday there were "a lot of theories" that he would assess but seemed to hold out hope that Beijing would eventually be forthcoming with what it knows about the virus' origin.
"China may tell us," he said.
Pressure from Trump officials
Despite warnings from scientists and intelligence professionals that the US may never know the precise origin of the virus, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has continued to push the intelligence community for precise details about the origin of the virus, CNN has learned.
As a result, intelligence officials are facing enormous pressure to determine whether the virus came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, two sources familiar with their frustrations told CNN. While the intelligence community has been wary to share details about the demands coming from the Trump administration, officials have told allies that the situation on the inside is alarming.
New York Times: Top administration officials have pushed intelligence agencies to link coronavirus to Chinese labs
The New York Times
was the first to report Thursday that a number of top officials in the Trump administration have pushed US intelligence agencies looking into the origin of the novel coronavirus to "hunt for evidence" linking the virus to a Chinese laboratory.
While the White House and State Department have urged intelligence officials to find evidence that backs up the theory that the outbreak can be traced back to a Chinese lab, the intelligence community made clear Thursday that they have
not reached a definitive conclusion beyond ruling out theories that the virus was man-made or genetically modified.
"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," the statement issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on behalf of the entire community said.
US explores possibility that coronavirus spread started in Chinese lab, not a market
While the statement suggests the intelligence community has not yet developed a clear assessment as to how the outbreak started, it does say that officials have ruled out the possibility that the virus was "man-made or genetically modified," agreeing with a near consensus among scientists and refuting conspiracy theories.
Trump was asked about the statement for the first time shortly after it was released but responded by defending his handling of the situation and pushing back on reports that warnings about an emerging outbreak were included in his daily briefs dating back to January and February.
"Well I haven't seen the report yet, but I will tell you, if you speak to the head of intelligence right now, you speak to the head, they did say that I was given a briefing when I said I was given it, not before and they also said that it wasn't specific and it was not a panicked briefing," Trump said, appearing to refer to
acting DNI Richard Grenell despite the fact he wasn't tapped for the job until February.
Trump's more direct comments about the outbreak's origins came when he was asked about the issue for a second time Thursday.
