U.S. Intelligence Report Rejects Claims of COVID-19 Leak from Chinese Lab, Raising Questions About Origins of Pandemic

U.S. intelligence officials released a report on Friday that rejected some points raised by those who argue COVID-19 leaked from a Chinese lab. The report was issued in response to a bill passed by Congress in March, which gave U.S. intelligence 90 days to declassify intelligence related to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The report has angered some Republicans, who have argued that the Biden administration is wrongly withholding information about the origins of the pandemic. However, intelligence officials have argued that China’s obstruction of independent reviews has made it impossible to determine how the pandemic began.

U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, Republican of Ohio, was recently interviewed on “Face the Nation” about the intelligence the U.S. had about the pandemic. He said that U.S. intelligence had “extraordinary detail” about the risk posed by the Wagner group. He also noted that top congressional leaders had been briefed multiple times in recent days by the administration.

The report from U.S. intelligence has raised questions about the origins of the pandemic, and whether more information should be released. It remains to be seen whether further investigations will be conducted to determine how the pandemic began.