The White House said there is no consensus within the Biden administration over the origins of the Covid-19 virus, a day after the disclosure of an Energy Department assessment that the pandemic likely originated with a leak from a Chinese lab.
The Energy Department, which had previously been undecided on the origins of the pandemic, recently joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation in saying the virus likely spread via a mishap at a Chinese laboratory, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that President Biden is determined to nail down where Covid started but there continues to be broad uncertainty within the administration about its origins. He declined to comment on the Journal article.
“There is not a consensus right now in the U.S. government about exactly how Covid started,” Mr. Kirby said at a briefing Monday. “We’re just not there yet,” he said. “If we have something that is ready to be briefed to the American people and the Congress, we will do that.”
The Energy Department made its judgment based on new intelligence, albeit with “low confidence,” according to the Journal’s reporting. Four other U.S. government agencies, along with a national intelligence panel, still believe the pandemic was likely the result of a natural transmission from an infected animal, while two others are undecided.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-...nated-from-lab-leak-fe15df0c?mod=hp_lead_pos1