US Govt. Report Says COVID Likely Leaked From Lab

Facts

• An updated classified report by the US Dept. of Energy (DOE) released to the White House and some members of Congress, has reportedly concluded with 'low' confidence that COVID was most likely caused by a laboratory leak.¹
• The DOE now joins the FBI in its assumption that the virus came from a coronavirus research lab in Wuhan, China. In its report in 2021, the FBI concluded with 'moderate confidence' that it emerged this way no later than November 2019.²
• In a CNN interview on Sunday, White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan declined to confirm or deny the report, though he emphasized that Pres. Biden had repeatedly directed the entire intelligence community to investigate the matter thoroughly.³
• The DOE report, based on a document from Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines’ office, is deemed important because the department — which oversees the US nuclear weapons program — has its own network of national labs with a variety of scientific expertise.⁴
• US officials reportedly declined to say what information led to the DOE's shifting perspective, though they did say the department and the FBI came to the same conclusion for different reasons. Four other intelligence agencies still suggest the virus came from a means of natural transmission while two are undecided.⁵
• China has denied that the virus came from any of its labs, claims that were first made after three researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology were sick enough to seek hospital care in 2019.⁶

Sources: ¹Forbes, ²Wall Street Journal, ³AlterNet, ⁴New York Post, ⁵Breitbart and ⁶Guardian.

Narratives

• Right narrative, as provided by Red State. This is why we should not just appeal to authority and blindly trust 'the science.' In the immediate aftermath of the outbreak, America's so-called experts were so obsessed with blaming everything on Trump that they were willing to ban any and all debate surrounding the origin of COVID. Finally, three years later, even the FBI and DOE have endorsed a theory they once labeled 'misinformation' and 'racist.'
• Left narrative, as provided by Axios. Though the GOP will jump on this story as a 'gotcha' moment to win political points, there is still no new evidence showing where exactly COVID came from. With some intelligence agencies arguing the lab leak theory and others arguing an animal spillover from a 'wet market,' no conclusion has yet been drawn with any high level of confidence, and anyone claiming to know the answer is simply trying to rile up their echo chamber audience.