CIA says Covid-19 probably leaked from Chinese lab

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The CIA concluded that COVID-19 probably began leaking from a laboratory in China in a new assessment of the origins of the pandemic that has killed millions of people.

U.S. intelligence concluded that the COVID-19 virus escaped from a research facility.

“CIA assesses with greater confidence a research-related origin of the COVID-19 Pandemic than a natural origin based on available reports.

“The CIA continues to assess that both research-related and natural origin scenarios for the COVID-19 Pandemic remain plausible.”

The U.S. intelligence community, made up of 18 agencies, has been assessing the origins of Covid-19 over the past four years to determine whether the virus emerged naturally in a wet market in Wuhan or leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. In a Chinese city.

The CIA joined the FBI and the Department of Energy in concluding that the virus originated from the Wuhan laboratory. But it said it had “little confidence in this judgment” and could change its assessment “as it continues to evaluate new credible intelligence reports or open source information that becomes available.”

The new assessment was released just days after John Ratcliffe was sworn in as CIA director.

In an interview with Breitbart News after Ratcliffe was confirmed as President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the intelligence agency, Ratcliffe said he believes intelligence and common sense “dictate that the origins of Covid were leaked from the Wuhan Virology Institute.” “The public knows the agency [CIA] We’ll get off on the sideline.”

Bill Burns, the Biden administration’s CIA director, said the CIA team evaluated evidence to take a position on the origins of Covid-19 but did not dictate the outcome, a US official said.

Burns’ directive from Jake Sullivan, who served as national security adviser, ordered the intelligence community to take another look at the origins of the pandemic as Biden’s team prepares to leave office.

U.S. officials emphasized that the CIA revised its assessment before Ratcliffe was sworn in as the new director.

“I said from the beginning that Covid probably originated from Wuhan Labs. Tom Cotton, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said communist China covered this and the liberal media covered it for them.

“We are pleased that in the final days of the Biden administration, the CIA has concluded that the laboratory leak theory is the most plausible explanation for the origin of Covid, and we commend Director Ratcliffe for making good on his promise to publish this conclusion. The most important thing now is to make China pay to spread the pandemic around the world.”

The Chinese embassy in the United States did not respond to a request for comment.

The new CIA assessment change comes a week after the country’s first call with Chinese President Xi Jinping since 2021. Many foreign policy experts expected Trump to take a hard line on China, especially on trade. For a week now, the president has taken harsh measures against Beijing.

In an interview with Fox News this week, Trump said the tariffs gave him “tremendous power” over China, but “I’d rather not have to use them.”

He also signed an executive order delaying the deadline for Tiktok’s Chinese owners to sell the popular video app to avoid a U.S. ban.