Biden asks US intel community to investigate COVID-19 origin

Author: Associated Press
Published: Updated:
In this May 13, 2021 file photo, President Joe Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. Biden is doubling U.S. emergency spending to help communities prepare for hurricanes and other extreme weather events, while launching a new effort at NASA to better understand and track the impacts of climate change. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden on Wednesday asked the U.S. intelligence community to “redouble” its efforts to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said there is insufficient evidence to conclude “whether it emerged from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident.”

Biden, in a statement said the majority of the intelligence community “do not believe there is sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other.”

He directed U.S. national laboratories to assist with the investigation and called on China to cooperate with international probes into the origins of the pandemic.

“The United States will also keep working with like-minded partners around the world to press China to participate in a full, transparent, evidence-based international investigation and to provide access to all relevant data and evidence,” he said.

He held out the possibility that a firm conclusion may never be known, given the Chinese government’s refusal to fully cooperate with international investigations.

“The failure to get our inspectors on the ground in those early months will always hamper any investigation into the origin of COVID-19,” he added.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.