The U.S. Energy Department reportedly has assessed that the COVID-19 pandemic likely originated from an accidental lab leak in China, according to a classified intelligence report recently provided to the White House and key members of Congress.
The lab leak theory, or the theory that the virus came from a lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, was widely dismissed as a conspiracy theory and “misinformation” by Democrats, major news outlets, scientists, and social media companies in the early stages of the pandemic.
Fauci knew this immediately but dismissed it because of funding for the Wuhan lab.
We know what happened next — when Fauci spoke Big Tech censored.
I exposed this collusion as AG and I’ll work to ensure this type of censorship never happens again. https://t.co/rNtRU7ASSn
— Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) February 26, 2023
Now, the Energy Department joins the FBI’s stance that the coronavirus likely spread due to a mishap in a Chinese laboratory. Congressional Republicans are calling for accountability from the Chinese Communist Party as evidence mounts that it is to blame for the pandemic.
Big Tech censored information indicating COVID resulted from a lab leak. Now, Biden’s own Energy Department is saying that’s the most likely cause.
We need accountability – for both the Chinese Communist Party and Big Tech.
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) February 26, 2023
The Washington Post and New York Times had accused Senator Tom Cotton of repeating a “fringe theory” when he mentioned the lab leak possibility back in February 2020. The Post issued a correction to one of its stories more than a year after calling the theory “debunked.” The Times came under fire last month after a group of 43 national security experts signed a letter accusing the Times, Time magazine, Lancet, and Nature Medicine of stifling debate on the origins of the virus.
The National Intelligence Council and four other agencies assess at “low confidence” that the COVID-19 pandemic originated due to natural transmission from an infected animal, while the CIA and another unnamed agency are undecided. The Energy Department’s updated report maintains a consensus between all the intelligence agencies that the pandemic was not the result of a Chinese bioweapons program.
The Energy Department’s view is significant because it has considerable scientific expertise and oversees a network of U.S. national laboratories, some of which conduct advanced biological research. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Energy Department ranks its new judgment at “low confidence,” while the FBI ranked its same conclusion in 2021 that the COVID-19 pandemic was the result of an accidental lab leak at “moderate confidence” and maintains that view.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was asked about the Journal’s report during an appearance on CNN Sunday. Sullivan said, “There is a variety of views in the intelligence community. Some elements in the intelligence community have reached conclusions on one side, some on the other. A number of them have said they just don’t have enough information to be sure.”
A spokesperson for the Energy Department said, “The Department of Energy continues to support the thorough, careful, and objective work of our intelligence professionals in investigating the origins of COVID-19, as the President directed.”
